Protest at Harris Teeter at Ballston Commons

A bigger problem is that whenever they are in an area where they are successful in their union busting, Smithfield also mistreats its employees.  Among the charges leveled against the company is that it does nothing to help prevent workers from developing repetitive stress injuries, a common ailment among meat processing workers, it doesn't carry workers compensation, which is illegal, and it does not provide health insurance for its employees.  When workers develop painful injuries like Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, or if they have job-related accidents that incapacitate them, the company simply fires them.  And these are people who make minimum wage and can least afford to lose their jobs.

At the Tar Heel plant workers have had to endure unsanitary conditions, including lack of safe drinking water, lack of hot water and soap to wash their hands, and generally unsafe working conditions.

Although the company claims that it is willing to let workers vote on a union, they have used intimidation tactics including firing workers and accusing them of providing false personal information such as fake social security numbers, and not giving them enough time to verify their personal data.  They've been responsible for federal immigration raids in their plants to scare workers silent.  The company has a long-term history of interfering with a fair election process, and it lost a case in the federal appeals court a decade ago for meddling in a union election and they had to pay $1.1 million plus interest to workers who had been fired in that dispute.

The group protesting these conditions leafleted passers-by and presented information to Harris Teeter's store manager urging him to not carry Smithfield products. 

This was part of a national effort and Harris Teeter stores were specifically targeted in picket lines across the country.  Harris Teeter is also North Carolina based and is one of the largest retailers to carry Smithfield products, often under their own store name.

For more information, you can go here to an article in the Houston Chronicle about the union organizing effort and the conditions at Smithfield plants.

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