Labor Updates (10/16/07)

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)SMITHFIELD WALKS AWAY: Smithfield Foods abruptly ended talks with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union yesterday morning. The union had been engaged in lengthy talks with the meatpacking company to try to find a free and fair process for workers to vote for a union. "We will continue to struggle for a union until we win," said Smithfield Workers for a Fair Choice. "We sincerely hope that the company will come back to the table at some point and agree to a genuine fair process that allows us to vote without company pressure." MD NURSING HOME WORKERS TAKE TO ROAD: Nursing home workers and their supporters from Maryland and across the nation are traveling to Toledo, Ohio Wednesday Oct. 17 to rally for improved care at the nation's largest nursing home chain, reports SEIU 1199. Shareholders of HCR Manor Care will be voting Wednesday to approve a $6.3 billion buyout of the company by global buyout giant, The Carlyle Group. "There is growing concern that the buyout may come at a high cost to seniors, taxpayers, and workers," says SEIU 1999. The deal is expected to close by the end of year. Manor Care runs 14 nursing homes in Maryland with 2,081 resident beds. Following the shareholders vote, a group of Manor Care workers and their supporters, including three workers from Maryland, will travel by caravan through Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Maryland to the Carlyle Group's headquarters in Washington, DC where they plan to hold demonstrations and lobby members of Congress.