Smithfield Packing ends talks with union

North Carolina's giant pork slaughterhouse, Smithfield Packing Co., ended talks today with a union that has been trying to organize the plant for more than a decade.

Officials from the Bladen County plant, which is the world's largest pork processing facility, began negotiating with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union in late August.

Both sides said they were hopeful that they could strike a deal that would allow employees to decide whether they wanted to unionize. But today, the two groups were back on the offensive, each accusing the other of scuttling the talks.

Both sides had agreed to hold an election in the plan. The sticking point, both sides said, was whether plant officials could campaign against the union. The company wanted the right to do so, while the union wanted the company to remain neutral.

"The company needs to back off and let us vote," said Catrina McDonald, a pro-union plant employee.

Smithfield officials called the union unreasonable because it demanded that the company allow organizers to campaign inside the plant while forcing Smithfield officials to remain silent.

"Their idea of neutrality was they could do anything they wanted to do, and we could do nothing," said plant spokesman Dennis Pittman.