Over 100 workers walked out of the Smithfield Foods meatpacking facility in Monmouth, Illinois, on September 14 after their coworker, Patou M. Mpinda, was killed by faulty company equipment.
Mpinda, aged 44, was killed by factory machinery at 2:31am, according to the coroner, prompting management to declare a late start to production for the next shift. Workers were notified of the new start time via text message at 5:30am. When notified of Mpinda’s death at their 7:30am lunchroom meeting, a supervisor told the grieving workers that production would resume as normal, despite safety personnel still investigating the machinery that killed Mpinda.
Mpinda was part of the Congolese community, which makes up a large portion of the workforce at Smithfield. A GoFundMe set up for Mpinda’s family shared that “he was a devoted husband and loving father who worked hard to provide for his family. His sudden passing has left his wife, Boliaka, who is pregnant and expecting their baby in November, to care for their four young children, ages 10, 4, 2, and 1.”
A Smithfield worker told a local news outlet: “I had coworkers in the lunchroom crying out loud and people so stressed from it that people was yelling at the plant manager: ‘Listen to your people! Why are we here? We shouldn’t be working!’”
The worker then called human resources to inform them of his intent to leave work for the day, citing the death. “I got sick to my stomach, and I just didn’t feel right as a person being there.” He was joined en route to the parking lot by dozens of coworkers. He also said that Congolese workers of the plant organized a walkout of at least 100, persuading management to give workers the option to work that day’s shift or go home.
“That’s kind of disgraceful (…) making the employees work after that had happened. Like he was just a number,” he continued. He said that this was the fourth death at the Monmouth plant, stating that the other three were due to “health issues”—often caused or exacerbated by exhausting overnight shifts, high production quotas, and tempo speedups.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) said in a statement that no other information will be available until its investigation, which could take as long as six months, has been completed.
Smithfield has a history of violating labor regulations. In February, OSHA reported that two workers at the Monmouth plant were exposed to amputation hazards. The facility violated safety standards in 2025 after 19 Monmouth workers were exposed to carbon monoxide. They paid a paltry settlement of $2 million in 2024 for violating child labor laws, employing workers as young as 14 for hazardous labor. They also polluted and poisoned water with a dangerous bacteria, coliform, paying out $12.6 million for violation of the Clean Water Act in 1997, and a federal judgment of $473.5 million for hog urine and feces disposal in 2018 to neighbors of their facilities.
Smithfield Foods is the largest producer of pork products in the US, and a subsidy of Hong Kong-based monopoly WH Group, the largest pork provider in the world.
Image: The Smithfield Foods pork processing plant in Sioux Falls, North Dakota. Credit: Tony Webster.
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