Smithfield plant workers say they’re “fed up” with treatment

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — Workers at a Sioux Falls pork processing plant that was overwhelmed by the COVID-19 pandemic said the company is no longer working in good faith.

A spokesman for the United Food and Commercial Workers local union say they are “fed up” with injustices at their facilities after being on the front lines of the coronavirus at the Smithfield plant for nearly two years.

Local union president B.J. Motley says that the company is speeding up lines of production, verbally abusing employees, and neglecting social distancing and sanitary measures.

Jim Monroe, vice president of corporate affair for Smithfield, said in a statement to the Argus Leader that it’s the first time they have heard those concerns and they disagree with the “portrayal of conditions” at the facility.