Press
Sept. 15, 2018
The Daily Press
HRBooks review: Dive into labor practices with Smithfield Foods brought to light in book by HU professor
The quest to unionize American manufacturing has been an enduring campaign for the past century. Its stories have often been generalized, but Lynn Waltz in her book, “Hog Wild — The Battle for Workers’ Rights at the World’s Largest Slaughterhouse,” makes the workers’ story much more personal.
Smithfield Foods, in order to keep up with the growing demand for pork products, built its massive slaughter house in rural Bladen County, in southeastern North Carolina in 1992 and ultimately was processing 32,000 hogs a day in two eight-hour shifts.
Sept. 1, 2018
The Virginian-Pilot, Page One
Labor Day Means More than the End of Vacation
Of the big three federal holidays that more or less mark the beginning, middle and end of summer, Labor Day may be the least understood.
Everybody gets Memorial Day. And the Fourth of July couldn’t be much more straightforward.
But a day off to celebrate work?
Saturday, June 16, 2018
We are fortunate to have local writer, journalist and Hampton University professor Lynn Waltz preserving our local history of workplace organizing. Her newest book, Hog Wild: The Battle for Workers’ Rights at the World’s Largest Slaughterhouse published by University of Iowa Press is now available at Prince Books or online. As Wilson J. Warren, author of Tied to the Great Packing Machine: The Midwest and Meatpacking writes, “Lynn Waltz’s examination of Smithfield Foods’s campaigns against unionism in the modern meat industry is vivid and haunting. Her book offers compelling insight into the fate of the modern American labor movement and, crucially, evidence for why the United States is increasingly divided between rich and poor.” Lynn Waltz has agreed to be interviewed on her efforts in writing this book:
What drew you to the subject of this effort to organize the Tar Heel Smithfield plant?
Hampton University Scripps Howard Professor Lynn Waltz Launches Book Tour of her Expose’ on Meat Packing Industry
HAMPTON, Va. (May. 10, 2018) — Hampton University Scripps Howard School of Journalism and Communications Assistant Professor Lynn Waltz officially kicked off her book tour by appearing on a local television show to promote her acclaimed book, “Hog Wild: The Battle for Workers’ Rights at the World’s Largest Slaughterhouse.” Waltz also has several scheduled radio station interviews and will be appearing at bookstores in the Washington, D.C. area, with several stops on the East Coast.
HAMPTON, Va. (Nov. 17, 2017) — Scripps Howard School of Journalism and Communications Assistant Professor Lynn Waltz has burst onto the publishing scene with her first book: “Hog Wild: The Battle for Workers’ Rights at the World’s Largest Slaughterhouse.”
A newspaper and magazine journalist for 25 years, Waltz put her investigative reporting skills to work in a compelling expose on worker’s rights at Smithfield Foods, the world’s largest pork processor.
The University of Iowa Press will publish the book in May. It is featured in the publisher’s Spring 2018 Catalog of Books and is available for pre-purchase now. The publisher’s description of the book compares it to Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle” and Eric Schlosser’s “Fast Food Nation.”