Terry Slaughter

Workers at a pork processing plant may not have the most pleasant job in the world, but at least some of them are feeling more confident about where their union dues are going. On July 8, Keith Ludlum, former president of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1208, was sentenced in Raleigh federal court to 14 months in prison, and ordered to pay full restitution for conspiracy, for embezzling around $213,000 from the Tar Heel, N.C. union, which represents about 3,600 Smithfield employees in the Carolinas. He had pleaded guilty in January. The union’s former secretary-treasurer, the aptly-named Terry Slaughter, already has been sentenced for his role in the scheme. The actions follow a probe by the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS).

Union Corruption Update has covered this case several times since the guilty plea of Terry Slaughter in February 2019, which quickly led to a plea … Read More ➡

A decade ago, the appropriately named Terry Slaughter organized slaughterhouse workers. Little did these workers know that he eventually would steal their dues. On February 26, Slaughter, former secretary-treasurer of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1208, was sentenced in Raleigh federal court to six months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, for embezzling funds from the Tar Heel, N.C. union, which represents employees of Smithfield Foods pork processing plants in the Carolinas. He also was ordered to pay $63,315.18 in restitution. Slaughter had pleaded guilty in February 2019. Ex-local President Keith Ludlum pleaded guilty this January to stealing over $200,000. The actions follow a probe by the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards.

Slaughter, now 46, a resident of Fayetteville, N.C., served as secretary-treasurer of Food and Commercial Workers Local 1208 during 2011-15 following a bitter corporate campaign and organizing drive against Smithfield … Read More ➡

A slaughterhouse presents potential health and safety hazards for its workers. Union representation, unfortunately, can present economic hazards. On January 28, Keith Ludlum, former president of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1208, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina to conspiracy to steal more than $200,000 from the Tar Heel, N.C. union, which represents about 3,600 employees of Smithfield Foods-owned pork processing plants in North Carolina and South Carolina. The aptly-named Terry Slaughter, who served as local secretary-treasurer, pleaded guilty a year ago. Ludlum would be indicted two months later following a probe by the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards.

Union Corruption Update covered this case following the February 2019 guilty plea of Slaughter. UFCW Local 1208 had been formed and recognized about a decade ago in the wake of an unusually bitter and prolonged campaign by union organizers against Smithfield. … Read More ➡