On Monday, Smithfield Foods Inc.' RICO lawsuit against United Food and Commercial Workers International Union and its agents was to begin with jury selection. Instead, the two sides settled and issued a joint statement.

In it, the company and the union said that:
• they have agreed on what both parties believe to be a fair election process by which the employees at the Smithfield, Va.-based company's Tar Heel, N.C. plant can choose whether or not to be represented by the UFCW.
• they have agreed to establish a Feed the Hungry Program to be jointly funded and administered by the UFCW and Smithfield.
• the UFCW agrees to end its public campaign against Smithfield.
• there shall be no further public statement about this settlement until the election referenced in paragraph one above has been concluded.
The union has twice before lost elections held at the Tar Heel facility. Courts ruled that Smithfield meddled in those elections, held in 1993 and 1997.

Last October, efforts to reach agreement on an election again fell apart. Smithfield favored a traditional secret-ballot vote, while the union wanted a card-check system in which employees would signify intent to organize by signing cards. Both sides in that case contended that the other's preferred method fosters intimidation and coercion of workers.

Days later, Smithfield Foods filed a civil lawsuit against UFCW, charging that the union mounted a "public smear campaign" in its bid to organize Smithfield Packing Co.'s pork processing plant in Tar Heel.

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