Hog Wild: The Battle for Workers' Rights at the World's Largest Slaughterhouse

Description

When Smithfield Foods opened its pork processing plant in Tar Heel, North Carolina, in 1992, workers in the rural area were thrilled to have jobs at what was billed as “the largest slaughterhouse in the world.” However, they soon left in droves because of the fast, unrelenting line speed and high rate of injury. Those who stayed wanted higher wages and safer working conditions, but every time they tried to form a union, the company quickly cracked down, firing union leaders, assaulting organizers, and setting minority groups against each other.  Author and journalist Lynn Waltz reveals how these aggressive tactics went unchecked for years until Sherri Buffkin, a higher-up manager at Smithfield, blew the lid off the company’s corrupt practices. Through meticulous reporting, in-depth interviews with key players, and a mind for labor and environmental histories, Waltz weaves a fascinating tale of the nearly two-decade struggle that eventually brought justice to the workers and accountability to the food giant, pitting the world’s largest slaughterhouse against the world’s largest meatpacking union.  Following in a long tradition of books that expose the horrors of the meatpacking industry—from Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle to Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation—Hog Wild uncovers rampant corporate environmental hooliganism, labor exploitation, and union-busting by one of the nation’s largest meat producers. Waltz’s eye-opening examination sheds new light on the challenges workers face not just in meatpacking, but everywhere workers have lost their power to collectively bargain with powerful corporations.    Contents Acknowledgments Preface Introduction 1. Joe Luter and Smithfield Foods 2. Cheap Labor Built on a Legacy of Slavery 3. Lots of Pigs, Lots of Poop, Lots of Politics, Lots of Pollution 4. The Plant Opens; The Work Is Beastly 5. The First Union Vote; The NLRB Investigates 6. Environment and Immigration; North Carolina Is Forever Altered 7. The Company Woman; Climbing the Ladder Has Its Costs 8. The Second Union Vote; More Firings 9. The Trial; A Surprise Witness 10. The Judge Rules 11. On the Road with Union Organizers 12. The Corporate Campaign; Basic Human Rights 13. Pressure Mounts on Harris Teeter and Paula Deen 14. Latino Workers Walk Off the Job; ICE Raids Cause Flight 15. Stockholders Salvo; Secret Talks; Stalemate 16. RICO Shocks; Both Sides Flinch Epilogue Notes Bibliographic Essay Index