Teamsters to Pilgrim's Pride: 'No Clucking Way'

News provided by

International Brotherhood of Teamsters

Dec 17, 2010, 01:12 ET

Company Must Stop Destroying Good American Jobs

GREELEY, Colo., Dec. 17, 2010 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The International Brotherhood of Teamsters today told Pilgrim's Pride (NYSE: PPC) "No Clucking Way" the union is going to let the company destroy jobs at its chicken processing and feedmill facilities in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia and Kentucky.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100127/IBTLOGO)

Shareholders attending Pilgrim's Pride's annual shareholders meeting got that message loud and clear when an airplane with a banner that read "No Clucking Way" flew over JBS USA headquarters. JBS USA is a subsidiary of Brazil-based JBS, the world's largest meat processor. Pilgrim's Pride is a division of JBS.

"The Pilgrim's Pride division of JBS has declared war on its American workers," said C. Thomas Keegel, Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer. "It's not that it can't afford for its workers to have good healthcare and a dignified retirement. This is a very profitable company and its stock has skyrocketed over the last two years."

JBS/Pilgrim's Pride is demanding that its workers allow their employer to make changes to their health care benefits at any time without bargaining with the employees' representative, and that they accept reduced overtime pay on Sundays and holidays. JBS Pilgrim's is also attacking workers' hard-earned retirement benefits and wants to stop paying into their pensions.

"We want Pilgrim's Pride shareholders to know that the dedication of these workers is one of the reasons for this company's success," said Fred Gegare, Director of the Teamsters Food Processing Division. "It is an insult the way that Pilgrim's Pride is trying to treat the very people whose hard work they depend on as the company grows."

At today's shareholder meeting, the company will report that it brought in $1.72 billion in the last quarter alone, and that its profits last quarter were 50 percent higher than expected. Their chicken revenues are even expected to grow by as much as 5 percent next year.

Founded in 1903, the Teamsters Union represents more than 1.4 million hardworking men and women in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.

SOURCE International Brotherhood of Teamsters