A passion for justice runs in Eduardo Peña Hernández family-he and his parents are all advocates for the independence of Puerto Rico. In 2002, Peña came to North Carolina to battle the outrageous anti-worker activities at the Smithfield Foods plant in Tar Heel, which has committed numerous abuses against its workers. In January 2005, the National Labor Relations Board unanimously upheld a ruling that charged Smithfield with numerous violations of federal labor law, including the use of local sheriff department deputies to intimidate and assault union supporters, mandatory meetings to intimidate and threaten workers for supporting the union, using its private police force to falsely arrest union supporters and threatening to close the plant if workers voted for a union.
