MICHELE NORRIS, Host: From NPR, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Michele Norris.</s>MELISSA BLOCK, Host: From North Carolina Public Radio, Leoneda Inge reports.</s>LEONEDA INGE: Smithfield spokesman Dennis Pittman says the company fired workers because their Social Security numbers did not match their names, and workers weren't able to resolve the discrepancy. And, he says, there could be more firings. But Pittman says he thinks the walkout has more to do with the movement to unionize workers than the firings.</s>DENNIS PITTMAN: This has nothing to do with what's taken place from a Social Security standpoint. This is simply a ploy by the UFCW to use an unfortunate situation to try to force a union on people who have twice voted not to have a union.</s>LEONEDA INGE: Gene Bruskin is the Smithfield campaign coordinator for the United Food and Commercial Workers Union.</s>GENE BRUSKIN: The bigger picture here is that the workers want a voice. There are immediate issues, these firings that they want to address, but it's part of a long train of abuses.</s>LEONEDA INGE: For NPR News, I'm Leoneda Inge in Durham, North Carolina.
At the world's largest pork processor, Smithfield in Tar Heel, N.C., 500 non-union workers walked off the job. They're protesting the company's firing of workers whose Social Security numbers could not be verified. From member station WUNC, Leoneda Inge reports.