On August 29, 150 Smithfield Packing workers from Tar Heel, North Carolina, and their supporters let the shareholders of Smithfield Foods — which calls itself “a global food company” — know that people are standing together for worker justice. Supporters present for the Smithfield shareholders meeting in Williamsburg included Virginia workers, local and national union members, social justice organizations and faith communities. Organizations participating included Food Not Bombs, Virginia Poverty Law Center, Defenders for Freedom, Justice and Equality, Pax Christi, and the Virginia Organizing Project.

The gathering began at First Baptist Church in Williamsburg. After lunch, attendees heard speakers talk about their experiences with management and encouraged everyone to recognize that these workers are standing up for themselves, and it is important to stand with the workers. Loud cheers and applause filled the church as 150 Smithfield Packing workers entered the sanctuary. Seeing the standing room only crowd of supporters in the church (the church seats 500), many were moved to tears.

Smithfield Packing workers told about not receiving workers’ compensation benefits because of the company’s refusal to record injuries, losing health care benefits, having racial epithets used by supervisors, being falsely arrested and about other injustices they experienced and/or witnessed.

Union leaders reminded everyone that “we must not be divided by race and immigration status, we must stand together as workers.”

A delegation of 10 Smithfield workers and other representatives spoke at the shareholders’ meeting while more than 800 marchers stood outside the Williamsburg Lodge singing and holding signs in English and Spanish. Proceeding to Bicentennial Park, the marchers continued to chant, “Workers’ rights are human rights,” and “Up with Justice.”

The Smithfield Packing plant in Tar Heel is the world’s largest pork plant. Approximately 5,500 workers kill and process 32,000 hogs a day. The workforce is about 50 percent Latino and about 40 percent African-American.

For more information, www.smithfieldjustice.com or www.ufcw.org