Immigrants are particularly vulnerable to unscrupulous employers who use the threat of deportation to force workers to accept poor and unsafe work conditions, low wages, and little to no benefits. But everybody’s got a right—a universal human right—to fair wages and a safe working environment. Maria and Gerrardo, Salvadoran immigrants who came to this country to make a better life for their families, share their stories of why fighting for a union is worth the struggle.

> Read their story.
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The Smithfield Foods' meatpackers struggle to form a union began in 1994, when workers sought union representation with the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW)  to address the poor conditions in the Tar Heel, North Carolina factory.  Injuries are a regular occurrence with the fast assembly line and the use of sharp knives. 

On December 15, 2000, an NLRB Administrative Law Judge found Smithfield committed multiple labor law violations during Smithfield workers' organizing efforts in 1994 and 1997.

For the first time in more than four decades, a majority of Americans working in the private sector no longer receive health care coverage from their employers.  And those that do receive coverage are being forced to pay for an increasing share of it out of their own pockets.  Moreover, as the gap between the coverage between union and non-union workers grows, the competitive advantage of the non-union sector is growing with it - giving non-union employers greater incentive to fight organizing drives.