Union vote authorizes strike at South Dakota pork plant

The union at a Smithfield Foods pork processing plant in South Dakota says it will head to contract negotiations armed with the authorization to call a strike

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -- The union at a Smithfield Foods pork processing plant in South Dakota said it will head to contract negotiations Tuesday armed with the authorization to call a strike. A strike authorization at the Sioux Falls chapter of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union was overwhelmingly approved late Monday with 98% of the vote total, the union said. However, union leaders said they hope to avoid a work stoppage as they prepared to meet with company representatives. Meatpacking workers have become emboldened after a virus outbreak at the plant last year killed four workers and infected nearly 1,300. The union is demanding that Smithfield boost its wage offerings in a four-year contract to match those at a JBS pork plant in the region, as well as make several other concessions on break times and employee health insurance costs. “We’re not going to change our stand,” said B.J. Motley, the president of the local union.