The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.63/No.28           August 16, 1999 
 
 
`Smithfield Worries About Hogs, Not People'  

BY JANICE LYNN
SMITHFIELD, Virginia - As temperatures soared above 90 degrees, Andrew Hardy, a worker at Smithfield Packing Co., died here July 7 from what was eventually diagnosed as hyperthermia, or heat stroke.

Hardy, 29, worked on the kill floor where hogs are slaughtered. This is the hottest part of the plant. Hot water is sprayed on the floor to wash away waste, and hog hairs are burned off with flames. Hardy was taken to the nurse's office after slumping over, and died less than two minutes after a company van brought him to the Smithfield Medical Center. His family questions why an ambulance didn't take him.

Three other meatpackers suffered heat exposure July 20 and were given medical treatment.

"It ain't right," James Eley told Militant correspondents July 22. "They should have let him take a break where it was cool right away. This company is just worried about their hogs, not the people." Eley has worked at Smithfield Packing for nine years and hangs hams.

Jeff Wengorek, 20, works on the kill floor. He just got off his 60-day probation. Wengorek was particularly incensed at the company's statement to the media that the temperature on the kill floor was about the same as outside. "It's much hotter inside," he said. "More fans should be installed. We should be allowed more breaks. It takes someone dying to learn anything," he said.

"They should give us more breaks, stop the line more, put in air conditioning, not work us so hard," commented another kill floor worker who was running to his second job.

A maintenance mechanic, who has worked at Smithfield Packing for three years and had worked for seven years at nearby Newport News Shipbuilding, expressed his support for the shipyard workers' strike (see front page article). He thought the union at the packing plant, the United Food and Commercial Workers, needed to be strengthened. Declining to give his name, he said, "People don't feel they can speak their mind here without being fired. The company was not concerned about the heat and working conditions, until someone got hurt."

Smithfield Packing Co. issued a statement July 20 stating its new policy would be to give workers three paid breaks and a shortened workday when the outside temperature goes above 90 degrees.

Janice Lynn is a member of the International Association of Machinists in Washington, D.C. Dave Salner contributed to this article.

 
 
 
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