Source:  Lisa M. Keefe, MEATINGPLACE.COM, 11/24/09

A labor dispute between Smithfield Foods Inc. and the local union that represents employees of the company's South packing plant in Smithfield, Va., has been moved to the National Labor Relations Board's Washington, D.C., office and delayed while that office reviews the charges, according to a report in the Daily Press of Newport News.

Smithfield's South plant is slated to close and most of its workers moved to the nearby North plant, which is represented by the Teamsters. The Food Processors Local 1046 argues it should continue representing the relocated workers; Smithfield would rather they were members of the Teamsters.

The Food Processors took the dispute to the NLRB, which over the summer filed an official complaint of unfair labor practices against the company. A hearing on that complaint was due to begin Dec. 7 in administrative law court in Newport News, Va. A "legal maneuver" by Smithfield moved the case to Washington, the Daily Press reported.

A new date for the trial has not been set, but may be mid- to late January, according to the report.

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