Nine Steps to a Union Contract Your handy guide to gaining real workers power in the workplace Rules for solicitation and distributing materials General do's and don'ts for soliciting and for distributing materials Your Rights as an Employee Federal law gives workers the right to organize and bargain collectively Smithfield Breaks Off Talks with Workers On October 15, 2007, managers at Smithfield Foods' Tar Heel, North Carolina plant broke off talks with worker representatives, scuttling negotiations to decide on a process to bring a union into the plant. Maryland Home Child Care and Health Care Providers Win Bargaining Rights Home child care providers have won impoprtant bargaining rights in an order signed by Maryland Governor Martin O'Mammey Defense Workers Set to Battle Bush White House in High Court The Bush administration has sought to deny Department of Defense workers their right to organize. The battle is moving to the U.S. Supreme Court. Workers at Baltimore's Oriole Park at Camden Yards Threaten Hunger Strike A tough job pays peanuts, say the men and women who clean the stadium. They've had it with low pay and working conditions.