December 12, 2008: A long fight at the world’s largest pork processing plant has come to an end, as workers at the Smithfield Tar Heel plant voted to join the United Food and Commercial Workers.

The fight to organize the Tar Heel plant began from day one, when Smithfield opened the facility in 1992. In 2006, the NLRB ruled that Smithfield was guilty of unfair labor practice during two unsuccessful organizing drives in the 1990s, rendering the elections results illegitimate.

Following the verdict, UFCW initiated the Justice@Smithfield campaign, urging boycotts of Smithfield products and mobilizing publicly against the company. The company retaliated by filing a RICO suit against UFCW, Jobs with Justice and the Change to Win federation, the settlement of which resulted in this week's election.

Read a statement from the UFCW.

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