Walkout over migrants ends

Employees at a Smithfield Foods Inc. slaughtering plant returned to work Saturday after walking off their jobs for two days to protest the recent firing of immigrants.

In all, about 1,000 nonunion workers, mostly Latinos, walked out. They won’t be disciplined, company officials have said.

The agreement to return to work came late Friday after Smithfield representatives met with leaders of a Roman Catholic church to discuss the workers’ grievances.

Among those returning were workers who had been fired, said Smithfield spokesman Dennis Pittman. The company is giving the employees more time to sort out problems with Social Security documents, which preceded the firings.

But, Pittman said, Smithfield is still committed to following immigration laws.