Finally....Justice at Smithfield!!! (Kannapolis, Cleveland: how much, unemployment, closing)

[roncorey1]

After many years and many legal battles and mudslinging....a union at Smithfield's Tar Heel plant!

Smithfield Employees Vote To Join Union - MarketWatch

Workers at huge NC pork plant vote for union - BusinessWeek

newsobserver.com | Workers vote for union at Smithfield

Smithfield Tar Heel plant votes for union | Markets | Markets News | Reuters

[mm34b]

Now, the question is will Smithfield close the plant?

[mdp_az]

Is this really such a good thing? Look at the excess burden the UAW has placed on the Big 3 and the mess they're in now.

[roncorey1]

The UFCW vote at the Tar Heel Smithfield plant is a culmination of events from the last 11 years! The majority of Smithfield's facilities ARE unionized already. This is meatpacking industry and has little similarity to what is occuring with the auto industry. And as far as it closing....YEAH RIGHT!! This particular plant has always been a profit making machine and a bottle neck for a large area of hog farms.

[mm34b]

It's my understanding that a significant percentage of the hogs processed at the Bladen County plant actually come from South Carolina farms. I'm sure Smithfield management will be looking at how the Tar Heel plant's unionization affects their profits. Relocation is always a business option to cut costs. Only time will tell.

[General Ambivalence]

Smithfield already has a significant presence in South America and Eastern Europe. If unionization closes profit margins to thinly in NC more of their operations will be sourced overseas. It's just good business sense to operate where you can make money.

Workers may be cutting their own throats by voting to unionize. Smithfield is under no obligation to operate with thin profit margins in this country. If their products can be produced overseas and shipped to this country with a greater profit margin that's what they will do! They will close production plants in the US and those new union members will be standing in unemployment lines wishing they had never heard of the union!

If you need a histroy lesson drive through the closed manufacturing sections of Cleveland OH or here in Trenton, NJ. The Union hall is still here but the plants are closed and the jobs are gone. The companies couldn't make a profit when Union wages rose. Some moved but many went belly up.

[mm34b]

I'm not sure what's in it for the union, since the workers cannot be required to pay union dues as a result of the unionization of the Tar Heel plant. Both member and non-member workers will be covered by the same negotiated contract.

[anifani821]

Originally Posted by General Ambivalence

Smithfield already has a significant presence in South America and Eastern Europe. If unionization closes profit margins to thinly in NC more of their operations will be sourced overseas. It's just good business sense to operate where you can make money.

Workers may be cutting their own throats by voting to unionize. Smithfield is under no obligation to operate with thin profit margins in this country. If their products can be produced overseas and shipped to this country with a greater profit margin that's what they will do! They will close production plants in the US and those new union members will be standing in unemployment lines wishing they had never heard of the union!

If you need a histroy lesson drive through the closed manufacturing sections of Cleveland OH or here in Trenton, NJ. The Union hall is still here but the plants are closed and the jobs are gone. The companies couldn't make a profit when Union wages rose. Some moved but many went belly up.

Good points and thank you for taking the time to share the info.

[roncorey1]

Originally Posted by General Ambivalence

Smithfield already has a significant presence in South America and Eastern Europe. If unionization closes profit margins to thinly in NC more of their operations will be sourced overseas. It's just good business sense to operate where you can make money.

Workers may be cutting their own throats by voting to unionize. Smithfield is under no obligation to operate with thin profit margins in this country. If their products can be produced overseas and shipped to this country with a greater profit margin that's what they will do! They will close production plants in the US and those new union members will be standing in unemployment lines wishing they had never heard of the union!

If you need a histroy lesson drive through the closed manufacturing sections of Cleveland OH or here in Trenton, NJ. The Union hall is still here but the plants are closed and the jobs are gone. The companies couldn't make a profit when Union wages rose. Some moved but many went belly up.

Like I mentioned before: the majority of Smithfield's meatpacking operations are already covered under union contracts (probably UFCW). Also, there are over 9 million hogs in NC; second only to Iowa.

As long as hog farming is big business in NC and SC then a major (and very efficient) operation like the Tar Heel plant (and other Smithfield facilities in NC) will be needed. Not really sure how much pork products the US market gets from Latin America or E. Europe, but I do know that the Tar Heel plant supplies foreign markets as well as domestic.

Rust Belt heavy manufacturing doesn't really compare to the food industry. If their is one area that the U.S. manufacturing sector can do really well in, it is food processing/manufacturing and other agri-business related areas. BELIEVE ME: Smithfield Foods is a juggernaut and the tiny supposed increases in costs associated with organized labor will not shut down any operations in NC!

[GeminiGal]

Originally Posted by mm34b

Now, the question is will Smithfield close the plant?

Agreed. I remember when Fieldcrest Cannon voted in the union. Kannapolis was a ghost town shortly there after.