[NYTr] Workers at Smithfield: Big Migra Raids the Plant
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Counterpunch - Jan 26, 2007
http://www.counterpunch.org/ely01262007.html
The Workers at Smithfield
The Struggle Erupts and Big Migra Raids the Plant
By MIKE ELY and LINDA FLORES
On Wednesday, January 24, agents of the U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement, (ICE) staged a raid of the largest pork processing plant in
the world Smithfield Food's massive operation in Tar Heel, North Carolina.
This plant has been the site of intense struggle throughout the last year,
with over a thousand workers striking in November against the firing of
undocumented workers. According to the first press reports, this raid
arrested 21 workers in a plant where the federal authorities are demanding
the firing of over 600 workers for being undocumented. The following
article was based on the interviews and investigations conducted by a team
of reporters and translators from Revolution newspaper who went to this
rural area of North Carolina in December. It is a sister piece to the
article "No Longer Hidden, No Longer Hiding Strikers at Smithfield's Tar
Heel Slaughterhouse" that was published here on Counterpunch.
A team of reporters and translators from Revolution recently traveled
through North Carolina to talk with workers and activists involved in the
November 16, 2006 wildcat strike at Smithfield Foods' Tar Heel plant. This
is the second of a series of reports from that trip. The first part "No
Longer Hidden, No Longer Hiding" appeared in Revolution #76.
"We came for the money," Jose told us. And we heard those same words from
all the immigrant workers who spoke with us on our trip to southeastern
North Carolina.
The workers had come far north for the same wages that many Black workers
consider intolerably low. Starting pay at Smithfield Foods' massive
hog-killing operation is $8 an hour. It is more in a day than Jose could
make in a week in Guerrero, Mexico. One Black worker said to Revolution:
"At these wages, we can barely live in a rundown house or trailer."
Many immigrants are sending money home to family in Mexico and Guatemala,
and dreaming of returning themselves, once they have saved "enough," to
build a house or buy a patch of land.
Under these conditions, thrown together by the workings of a global system
of plunder, workers from different parts of the world have found themselves
working side by side. And they often look at each other across a real
divide created by their different experiences and different summations of
how things came to be the way they are.
Thrown Together in North Carolina
While we were in the kitchen, Jose's teenage nephew took us aside and
quietly said, "I was born without a future. I could never have in Mexico
what I have here. There's nothing there. That's why I'm here.
When he heard we were interviewing workers for Revolution newspaper, Julio
sought us out. He is twenty-something and intense. Julio started in without
waiting for us to ask a question: "Unfortunately I was born in a country
that was full of poor people and run by thieves. We immigrated to a country
we expected to be better. And found that it is just the same."
What Julio had found after crossing the border was dangerous work on
Smithfield's midnight sanitizing crew. "We worked under intense
conditions--with scalding hot steam under pressure, and chemicals like acid
that are used for de-greasing. They are killing people." In 2003, the
outrages boiled over. Julio led a wildcat strike of 300 workers, and was
fired for it.
Julio told us, "Black people want to raise their wages and receive a better
treatment. The Latino people have the idea we are here just to work. And
many think they are not going to be here forever. They think they are going
to leave. This is an illusion. Everything they have is here. My idea is
that we have to adapt to this place. To realize that we have to make it
here and change it here. The problem will continue until the Latino people
make our lives here and make the law respect this."
He leaned forward. His words came more quickly as he described feeling
hunted. "It is modern slavery for me when people cannot walk the streets
the way they want, cannot say what they want. We can see on TV in the
documentaries what they did to Black people. So we see it is just the same
now for us. That has to change. That's what I'm fighting for."
Later, in the home of several Black workers, a group of us were watching
the DVD of Bob Avakian's speech Revolution: Why It's Necessary, Why It's
Possible, What It's All About. There is a passage where he explains how
life for Black men in the Jim Crow South was like living under a permanent
death sentence that could be carried out, at any moment, for any reason or
for no reason at all. For most immigrant workers here, every moment is
lived under a permanent sentence of deportation. They leave the house each
time, not knowing if they will return to see their kids. They avoid any
authorities--the police, school officials, even clinics--not knowing which
encounter might trigger arrest and disaster--for any reason, or for no
reason at all.
Skinning the Ox Twice... And Complex Contradictions
For ten years, Smithfield Foods, like so many other corporations, has
actively recruited Mexican and Central American workers to come to their
U.S. plants. Meat slaughterhouses can't simply be moved to distant
countries, since many of their products need to be delivered fresh. So
instead of moving their operations to low wage areas, the huge monopolies
of the "food processing industry" simply moved millions of third world
workers here to viciously exploit them.
Smithfield sent out the word that it would hire anyone who walked through
the doors of its Tar Heel plant, and the vans arrived in North Carolina
bringing workers from Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras.
This exploitation of immigrant labor has become a critical element in the
larger U.S. economy. This ability to exploit workers under third world
conditions, within its own borders, is a competitive advantage U.S.
imperialism has in relation to its rivals in Europe and Japan.
However, while the U.S. ruling class needs to maintain this section of the
proletariat in extremely exploited conditions, there are major ways in
which the presence of millions of immigrants, many of them living an
"illegal" existence, undermines the "cohesiveness" of American culture,
politics and thinking in a time when the government is sharply concerned
with security and stability.
Meanwhile, the post "Cold War" era of rapidly restructuring capitalism has
shaken and upset the lifestyle that many American workers had come to
expect. And so the rulers of the U.S. have also felt it necessary to pander
to and promote an ugly nativist, racist anti-immigrant atmosphere. Ruling
class mouthpieces like Lou Dobbs blame immigrants for the "decline of the
middle class."
The ox is skinned twice--immigrant workers are first exploited viciously,
and then blamed for the worsening conditions of native-born workers.
In North Carolina, the election season of 2006 saw a real mounting hysteria
targeting immigrants. One congresswoman demanded that North Carolina get
its own federal immigration court to accelerate the deportation of
immigrants. Local state representatives proposed new laws forbidding
undocumented immigrants from renting apartments, getting drivers licenses,
or even picking up state lottery winnings. Nightly news seems intent on
portraying immigrants as a major cause of crime.
All this presents a mix of contradictions that both creates tremendous
pressure on immigrants, and at the same time provides some cracks through
which their struggle has erupted.
This whole swirl of contradictions found expression at Smithfield--and also
got expressed in complex and sometimes surprising ways among different
institutions and different class forces.
May First 2006--Suddenly It Was Time
Emma worked as a hotel maid after arriving from Costa Rica decades ago. She
is now director of the Eastern North Carolina Workers Center. Over plates
of waffles and whipped cream, she told us how things started to boil in the
rural heart of North Carolina's hog belt.
In early 2006, national plans emerged for May Day marches to demand amnesty
and legalization for undocumented workers. Emma and other organizers just
assumed they would caravan to nearby Wilmington, an hour away on the
Atlantic coast, with a couple dozen of their closest union supporters.
Something else happened.
Workers inside the Smithfield plant circulated their own flier announcing
that Wilmington march. They forgot to include a time or a place to meet.
Overnight, the Workers Center's phone started ringing off the hook--with
workers wanting to know the details.
Emma finally set up an informational meeting at a fast food joint outside
Lumberton. And on that day, the surrounding streets were jammed with cars.
Over 500 workers showed up. An informational meeting had become a rally.
Overnight, excited workers were demanding to hold their own march right
there in Lumberton. And all kinds of organized forces had to scramble to
respond to this independent initiative of the workers. Just a couple weeks
before May First 2006, the Catholic church, the union organizers and a
local businessman who does taxes for immigrant workers all came together to
plan that march--and shape it politically.
In the area surrounding the Smithfield plant, Catholic churches have been
some of the few places where often-isolated Latino immigrants found each
other. As in other places around the U.S., the Catholic Church in North
Carolina threw its structure into the effort to organize May First marches
for "immigration reform." A local Spanish-speaking priest emerged as a
major spokesperson for that community--even as he pronounced himself
strictly "neutral" in the conflict between the workers and their employers.
On May first, marchers were asked to leave their Mexican flags at home, and
wave the U.S. flag.
Reflecting the complexity of all the contradictions monopoly capitalists
have around immigrant labor, Smithfield Foods, and at least two other
firms, donated money to help pay for the march's costs.
The outpouring on May First was more powerful than anyone had expected. At
least 30,000 workers stayed away from work across the area--shutting down
many of the industrial farms, chicken processing plants and slaughterhouses
in several counties. Smithfield's Tar Heel plant, which "never shuts down,"
simply announced it had emergency repair work and closed its doors.
Long columns of cars, packed with workers, rolled out of the distant
trailer parks and into the Robeson County fairgrounds. Over 5,000 immigrant
people formed up that day and marched into Lumberton itself--under banners
that read "We are not criminals" and "We only want to work."
The disciplined march ended before City Hall, where a notoriously
anti-immigrant congressman has his offices. Local racists and klansmen did
not even dare make an appearance.
Lumberton is a sleepy Southern county seat straddling the interstate,
exactly halfway between New York City and Florida. It had never seen
anything like this. The political ground shook. Something new had announced
its presence.
The immigrant workers had felt compelled to come "out of the shadows"--they
felt they had to act, to protest, to fight or else simply allow their lives
here to be ground to dust. And now they looked around and took notice of
their own boldness and numbers.
Debate, Harassment and Major Federal Moves
Sharp debates raged among the Black and white people of this area. As the
May First march passed the housing projects, Black people came out to line
the streets and watch. Some stood with their arms crossed in open
disapproval. Others openly shouted support, "Stay strong! Stay together!"
Wendy and Keith, white workers with ties to farmers in this area, told
Revolution that there were quite a few white people who thought the Latino
workers and the Smithfield plant had both brought changes to this area that
weren't welcome.
And yet, at the same time, there were more positive sentiments expressed
among both Black and white, that the immigrants had proven themselves to be
decent people scrambling hard to survive, and that they were people who
deserved a chance in life. And a number of Black people remarked that
"Latinos stick together"--and suggested that this is something Black people
should learn to do.
Several workers told Revolution that after May First the local sheriffs and
state police acted like they had suddenly discovered the undocumented
workers. Now many more immigrant workers were taken away in handcuffs from
traffic stops for not having drivers licenses. Now there were state police
prowling like wolves, every day, at key crossroads near the Tar Heel plant.
And now there are rumors of workers being turned over to Immigration by
those state police. One Latino told us he knew of a local sheriff who
simply stopped and robbed a Mexican driver at a traffic stop--confident the
immigrant couldn't report it.
Meanwhile, working behind the scenes, the federal government was preparing
major moves and changes. Smithfield Foods was pressured to sign up with the
Department of Homeland Security's "Employment Verification Pilot Program."
In an outrageous violation of the workers' rights, the company turned over
the information on everyone working at their Smithfield plant to the
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). And after Social Security
checks, many hundreds of these workers--at least 600--had names and social
security numbers that "didn't match." In October 2006, people were given
two weeks to "clear things up"--and after those two weeks passed,
Smithfield started firing people. The exact numbers they fired is not
known--another company secret. But hundreds of workers knew they were next.
They simply weren't going to have it.
"The Latinos have walked out!"
On November 16, 2006 hundreds of Latino workers walked out on first shift,
shutting down the line, leaving the hogs swinging in the plant's frosty
air. They gathered outside in a jubilant, chaotic scene that lasted for two
days. A bullhorn was passed hand to hand, as people spoke their bitterness.
It is hard to describe those feelings of fear giving way to
courage--stepping out of the shadows and finding a voice. And yet, the
walkout also raised a central issue squarely: very few of the over 2,000
Black workers at the plant joined the walkout. They stayed on their jobs,
often saying to themselves, "This is not our concern." Some of the most
backward even volunteered to stay and work a double shift.
Meanwhile, to the striking workers, the company that had seemed so
intimidating and ruthless seemed suddenly powerless and confused. Workers
wandered in and out of the plant as the company security stood by
helplessly. Some workers came out to listen and then returned to work.
Others slipped into the plant to urge more workers to walk out. Workers who
arrived for each shift were asked to stay out, to join in. A series of
homemade videos were posted on YouTube. And overall, 1,000 were out on
strike at the height. And even on the second day, as the numbers dwindled,
the company only managed to get one of their two production lines running.
Smithfield had been taken completely by surprise, and their higher-ups
decided they couldn't allow a disruption of production so close to their
crucial Christmas season. They agreed to rehire the fired workers. They
agreed to meet with an elected strike committee to hear grievances--with
the local Catholic priest participating as a "neutral" go-between.
Almost giddy at their sudden victory, the strikers celebrated and returned
to work. This is a place where the company had responded to previous
workers' actions with wholesale firings, and even the beating of
organizers. It is a "company town" where the local sheriffs can be expected
to show up and attack on command--and where the state authorities and media
automatically throw their weight behind the capitalists. And so it was
amazing, and unexpected, to have Smithfield simply fold to these demands
after two days--when for over a decade they had refused to even hear any
grievances of the workers.
Within days, at that promised meeting, Smithfield announced that workers
now had only 60 more days to "clear up" any "no match" in their paperwork.
They were firmly committed to pressing ahead with mass firings of the
undocumented.
Meanwhile, the Americans for Legal Immigration PAC, a national
anti-immigrant organization, issued a public demand that the Immigration
and Customs Enforcement (ICE) carry out a raid on Smithfield Tar Heel
plant, "We want ICE and Smithfield Packing to remove all illegal aliens
from their workforce immediately."
Smithfield has had two months to hire workers intended as a replacement
force bringing them right onto the line for training behind the targeted
workers.
And now on January 24 has come a raid from the ICE arresting 21 workers
with very little coverage so far in the national press.
Certainly this outrage is an act all intended to threaten the workers there
more broadly.
And there is every reason to believe there are more attacks to come either
raids or mass firings all under orders from the U.S. Department of
Homeland Security, all targeting the undocumented.
The conflict is far from resolved.
[Mike Ely and Linda Flores are writers for Revolution newspaper. To contact
them write to mike...@revcom.us]
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