In Race for Worst, Smithfield Named Top Grinch of 2007

In a close race – one you'd hope no company would want to win –  Smithfield pork slaughterhouse CEO Joseph Luter III beat out American Airlines and Verizon Business to be named "Grinch of the Year" in the annual Jobs with Justice contest for the worst of the country's union-busting, workers-rights-stomping employers. 

Of nearly 10,000 votes cast on the JwJ website in December, 28 percent went to Smithfield, which has run a fear campaign for more than 10 years while its Tar Heel, N.C., employees have fought relentlessly for a voice at work.

American Airlines CEO Gerard Arpey was an extremely close second, getting 27 percent of the vote. Airline managers are reaping millions in bonuses while workers who gave concessions to keep the company out of bankruptcy in 2003 are getting nothing.

Coming in third was Verizon Business' Bob Toohey, vice president for human resources. Despite widespread community and political pressure, he and the company have engaged in a full slate of anti-union tactics while refusing to recognize the majority of VZB technicians in New England who have signed cards seeking representation through CWA and the IBEW.