Novmber
13, 2008 - Issue 299 |
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UFCW
- Smithfield Settlement: One Step Forward & Hopefully Not Two Steps Backward! By Saladin Muhammad BlackCommentator.com Guest Commentator |
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The
announcement of a settlement between the UFCW and the Smithfield Company
represents an important juncture and possible victory on the one hand,
as it shows the impact of a sustained and social movement type union
campaign that organizes workers and consumers against this giant corporation
and plant in On
the other hand, the settlement raises concerns about the UFCW’s future
relationship to the Black majority community movement against environment
racism, which the UFCW campaign began to align with only after having
RICO charges filed against the union by The UFCW’s
call for suspending of all activities that target I
am sure this is one of the major aims of While
the tactical need to move the union election forward is understood, it
is important that UFCW support the right of This joint UFCW-Smithfield “feed the hungry program”, I’m afraid, promotes a direction of labor-management “cooperation” that could have a dis-empowering and co-opting effect on the level of rank-and-file consciousness and organization that the UFCW campaign has been able to build. The “gag-order” of making no “public statements about the settlement until the election” actually stopped the popular aspects of the campaign to build the union, including preparing for the election. There was a similar “gag-order” on UNITE workers around the Sodexho Marriot campaign. We
must learn more about the terms of the settlement and be careful and critical of how
we promote this important advance for BlackCommentator.com Guest Commentator, Saladin Muhammad, is a co-founder and long-time leader of the North Carolina-based “Black Workers for Justice.” Click here to contact Mr. Muhammad. |
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