Reply #14: Union wins a 16-year fight to organize hog plant [View All]

[IndianaGreen]

Here is the local coverage of the OP's story:

Union wins a 16-year fight to organize hog plant

Tar Heel packer employs 5,000

Kristin Collins, Staff Writer

The victory is a coup in a state with the lowest rate of unionization in the nation. It is part of a larger struggle to organize meatpacking plants that have moved to the Southeast in the past few decades, hoping to escape the reach of unions.

Labor expert Marion Crain, a law professor at Washington University in St. Louis, Mo., called the victory in Tar Heel "an important symbolic win, not just for the union, but for the workers, to see that an employer who was steadfastly committed to resisting unionization eventually yielded."

Workers who supported the union said Friday that they hoped for many changes in the plant, including higher pay, more breaks, better work schedules and more respect from supervisors.

"You can't go to the bathroom when you want. When you're sick, they expect you to still come to work," said Charles McEachim of Fayetteville, who was leaving the plant after his shift Thursday. "We need a union."

Power in a union

Membership gives workers a voice in setting hours and determining their workloads, and gives them a procedure to appeal decisions by their bosses. The union has promised to put an end to working conditions that it says are dangerous and demoralizing.

http://www.newsobserver.com/business/story/1330939.html