A late start, then silence

A 5:30 a.m. text told workers at the Monmouth, Illinois plant the shift would start late. When they arrived at 7:30, nobody was working.

Found out in the lunchroom

Employees were gathered together instead of at their stations. That was where one worker learned someone had died inside the plant.

“I had noticed all of our employees were standing in our lunchroom ... that's when I was informed that there was a death in the plant”

Grief, then an order

Coworkers were crying and shouting at the plant manager to send them home. The manager offered an open door, and management told supervisors production would run anyway.

“Listen to your people! Why are we here? We shouldn't be working!”

One refusal turns into a hundred

A worker told his supervisor he was calling in and leaving, phoned HR, and walked. He estimates at least 100 people left with him that day.

“I got sick to my stomach and I just didn't feel right as a person being there”

Treated like a number

To the workers, running the line hours after a death insulted the man who died and everyone still on the floor, along with his friends and family.

“No respect, making the employees work after that had happened. Like he was just a number.”

Fourth death, first by machine

Workers were told this was the plant's fourth death, with the earlier three tied to health issues like heart attacks. OSHA and local authorities are investigating, and Smithfield said it is cooperating.