Wildcat walk-out at Smithfield Foods

We've written before at Facing South about Smithfield Foods, the meat-processing giant which runs the largest pork-processing plant in the world in Tarheel, North Carolina.

The dangerous working conditions and mistreatment of workers -- including reports of company security guards beating workers who attempt to join a union -- led the international group Human Rights Watch to single out Smithfield as a poster child of labor rights violations. The United Food and Commercial Workers union has faced an uphill battle in this hostile climate in their efforts to organize Smithfield workers.

Today we've learned some 500 of Smithfield's mostly-immigrant workforce walked out on the job to protest a round of mass firings of workers at the plant. The company has been using Social Security "no match" letters as a reason to fire a growing number of workers, some of whom have work permits but problems with their Social Security numbers.

According to our sources, the walk-out started with some 100 workers, and has since grown. Elena Everett of the Institute for Southern Studies has gone to the scene, and says that African American workers are now coming out in solidarity with the Latino workforce.

This is a major event, in a critical labor battle in the South. Given the plant's history -- and the questionable legal status of some employees -- the workers are clearly taking a big risk in challenging the company.

The workers have announced a press conference this afternoon. Stay tuned, we'll be closely following this story.