Your Hard Work Deserves To Be Recognized

Workers in the food industry are working harder than ever to make ends meet. In today’s rapidly changing economy, the best opportunity working people have to get ahead economically is by recognizing their contributions to the corporate world and uniting to bargain with their employers for better wages and benefits.

Your work has contributed to the success of the multi-billion dollar food industry. With most of the economic benefits of our economy going to the top tier executives in the corporate world, it is important that you remember how valuable you are to your employers.

Despite the fact that your employer is profiting from your labor, you continue to be subjected to some of the toughest and most dangerous work environments. You slaughter beef, pork, and lamb stock, and cut up and trim the meat that is shipped to supermarkets, hotels and restaurants, and for export to countries worldwide. You smoke meat and make products like hot dogs, hams, bacon, and sausage, and catch and process chicken. In short, your hard work under dangerous circumstances has helped your company succeed.

Take a look at the sales and profits that you generated for the food industry in 2006:

COMPANY
 SALES ($ BILLIONS)
 OPERATING PROFITS
Cargill, Inc.
 $75.2
 N/A
Hormel Foods Corp.
 $5.7
 $449 million
Maple Leaf Foods, Inc.
 $C5.9
 $C224 million
Pilgrim's Pride Corp.
 $5.2
 $3 billion
Smithfield Food, Inc.
 $11.4
 $438 million
JBS-Swift & Co.
 $9.4
 $6 million
Tyson Foods, Inc.*
 $27
 $638 million


The UFCW is working hard to help you obtain the wages and benefits you deserve in this profitable industry and has a presence in these companies.

• Approximately 16,000 of Cargill’s 149,000 employees are represented by the UFCW.
• Approximately 5,000 of Hormel’s 18,000 employees are represented by the UFCW.
• Approximately 8,700 of Maple Leaf’s 24,000 employees are represented by the UFCW.
• Approximately 13,800 of the 56,500 employees at Pilgrim’s Pride are represented by the UFCW.
• Approximately, 15,600 of Smithfield’s 53,100 employees are represented by the UFCW.
• Approximately 8,500 of the 20,200 employees at JBS-Swift & Co. are represented by the UFCW.
• Tyson Foods employs approximately 107,000 workers throughout North America. With more than
   27,000 members covered by 27 collective bargaining agreements, the UFCW is the largest union
   at Tyson Foods.

Unions are making a difference. Just think of what you and your coworkers may be able to achieve by uniting to bargain for better wages and benefits.

* The sales and operating profits for Tyson Foods are pro-rated numbers based on the first three quarters of fiscal year 2007.