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GA06028
Social Justice Issues recommends five overtures to the Assembly Open hearings focus on immigration, anti-torture and labor practices
by Corey Schlosser-Hall
BIRMINGHAM, June 16 * A dozen people from across the country, including former moderator Rick Ufford-Chase, spoke in favor of item 09-01: Petitions Against Torture from San Francisco Presbytery.
The item calls for an independent investigative commission similar to the Sept. 11th commission to investigate whether any U.S. person or agency has "ordered or participated in violations of law in the mistreatment of persons detained by the government of the United States at Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib Prison or elsewhere."
Six people urged commissioners to support item 09-15 on immigration. The open-hearing testimony focused on the economic disparity between the U.S. and Mexico and the role U.S. economic policies play in encouraging immigration from Mexico and Central and South America into the U.S. Will Garvey from San Francisco Presbytery testified, "They are here because of NAFTA and CAFTA."
The Rev. Parrish Jones insisted that immigration policies need to include support for economic-development projects such as Just Coffee, a fair trade coffee-growing company, "so that men and women don’t have to leave home to find work."
Adrian Gonzales from Agua Prieta, Sonora, Mexico is an example. A member of Lilly of the Valley Church in Agua Prieta, Adrian helped start Just Coffee.
"Ten years ago," Adrian testified, "coffee growers in Mexico received $1.50 for a pound of coffee." Since the implementation of NAFTA and CAFTA, he said those same farmers saw that price plummet to 30 to 40 cents per pound. "But with Just Coffee, we are receiving a fair price for our coffee again."
Adrian added that since the development of Just Coffee and other companies like it, "children are returning to the community."
No one testified against item 09-15.
The most hotly testified issue in open hearings was item 09-02: Resolution on Smithfield Packing, Inc., the largest hog processing plant in the world. According to the overture authors, Smithfield slaughters more than 32,000 hogs each day and employs more than 5,000 people.
Located in Tarheel, NC, the company is being accused of using "threats, intimidation, and violence against workers" and not complying with National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) orders to modify their employment practices.
In addition to calling on the company to stop using these tactics, the overture asks the PC(USA) to "communicate this call for justice" to North Carolina legal and legislative officials, major food chains that sell Smithfield products and Joseph Luter, CEO of Smithfield.
The overture extensively cites the findings of a 2004 Human Rights Watch report entitled "Blood, Sweat and Fear: Workers’ Rights in U.S. Meat and Poultry Plants."
Testifying in favor of the overture were Libby Manley, community organizer of Justice at Smithfield campaign; Ed Morrison, a former employee of Smithfield who testified to an atmosphere of fear where workers were frightened to discuss union issues, and who noted that he has not been compensated for a debilitating injury he received while working at Smithfield; and Erica Bratz, a college student in Greensboro, NC.
The Rev. Sue Fricks, moderator of New Hope Presbytery’s Peacemaking Steering Team who helped develop and proposed the overture, also testified. She and two other members of the steering committee visited Smithfield on May 31. She noted that Smithfield has been making improvements, "but workers still face intimidation."
Dennis Pitman, the director of Human Resources and Corporate Communications for Smithfield, asked commissioners not to pass judgment before visiting Smithfield. He also noted that no one from the Presbytery of New Hope, the overturning body, ever visited with Smithfield management about their concerns.
Pitman said the starting wage for workers at Smithfield was $9.20 per hour, which he claimed was an excellent entry wage in that part of the country. Smithfield also provides their workers "excellent benefits, such as a 401(k) plan and state-of-the-art medical facility across from our plant."
At the medical facility, workers of Smithfield and their families can access healthcare at a lower cost than they would have to pay through an alternative health plan. He also said that Smithfield has agreed to comply with all National Labor Relations Board orders.
The son of a Presbyterian pastor, Pitman also declared that if the accusations were true, he could not in good conscience work for the company.
The committee will begin deliberations on 09-02: Resolution on Smithfield Packing, Inc. on Saturday.
After the open hearings, the group acted on six items.
The committee will recommend to the whole assembly an overture (09-17) that requests the U.S. government fully fund the rebuilding assistance they already have authorized without reducing funds for existing federal programs.
They will suggest to the assembly that the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy study the effects on "Christian witness" of programs that are funded by the federal faith-based initiative programs, with particular attention to public education programs.
In addition to recommending three "monitoring reports" intended to assess the effectiveness of the implementation of previous policies or programs, the committee chose not to recommend overture 09-17, which would have urged the civil government and Roman Catholic Church in Ireland to provide information to adoptees who were separated from their birth mothers by a 1950’s Irish adoption policy.
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