Labor rights in American meatpacking industry
[1][2][3] In addition to high rates of injury, workers are at risk of losing their jobs when they are injured or for attempting to organize and bargain collectively.
[5][6] Within the poultry industry, Tyson and Perdue control each stage of chicken production, from raising the chicks to shipping the meat to grocery stores.
While American agriculture has largely been dependent on migrant workers for the last century, thousands of immigrants, mainly from Mexico, Guatemala, and El Salvador, now travel north to work in slaughterhouses and meat processing plants.
[3] According to a study in the Drake Journal of Agricultural Law, "most meatpacking employees are poor, many are immigrants struggling to survive, and most are now employed in rural locations.
[9] In response, slaughterhouse owners used ethnic differences to maintain control: they "recruited vulnerable Poles, Serbs, Croatians, Slovaks, and other recent Southern and Eastern European immigrants as workers.
[2] However, representatives of the Federal Bureau of Animal Industry reported to Congress that Sinclair's novel was inaccurate in many particulars, was "intentionally misleading and false", and furthermore engaged in "willful and deliberate misrepresentations of fact".
[2] It took large-scale unionizing by the newly established Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) and the effects of the National Labor Relations Act (1935) to improve working conditions for slaughterhouse workers.
[2] According to a report by the Human Rights Watch, "master contracts covering the industry raised wages and safety standards.
[2] According to the Human Rights Watch, federal regulation of speed of disassembly lines only considers two factors: avoiding adulterating the meat and poultry, and not obstructing a plant's productivity.
[3] Because the bonuses of managers and foremen are often tied to the injury rates at their plant, slaughterhouse supervisors are not incentivized to report incidents.
"[11] The article quoted Patrick Boyle—president of the American Meat Institute—dismissing the 2005 Human Rights Watch report as "replete with falsehoods and baseless claims.
[11] A spokesperson for Tyson Foods said, "we're disappointed by the [Human Rights Watch] report's misleading conclusions, but not surprised given the author's extensive ties to organized labor.
[11] When asked about the pace of poultry processing in their plants, Tyson Foods official told the Human Rights Watch that the speed of their lines conform to federal regulations.
[1][3][5] In addition to working with knives, meatpacking employees often have to repeatedly lift and move heavy objects during a shift and are exposed to dangerous machinery.
[2] A hog slaughtering plant manager went on record during an unfair labor practice trial as saying, "there is a lot of heavy lifting and repetitive work.
"[2] Consequently, according to data published by the Drake Journal of Agricultural Law, approximately 25% of meatpacking workers are injured or become ill each year.
[1][5] According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the rate of injury and illness for the meatpacking industry is double the average of other American manufacturing jobs.
[2] A health care provider who services poultry industry workers in Northwest Arkansas told the Human Rights Watch, "I see leg and knee injuries too from people slipping on the wet surface, fighting to keep their balance.
[5] According to a 2008 study in the Georgetown Journal on Poverty Law and Policy, the pain and terror animals go through in their final moments create "an employment situation ripe for psychological problems.
"[12] Essentially, by being involved in creating the traumatic situation, a victim of PITS would suffer PTSD symptoms, including anxiety, panic, depression, increased paranoia, or disassociation.
[5] According to the 2008 study in the Georgetown Journal on Poverty Law and Policy, there is ample anecdotal evidence of slaughterhouse workers exhibiting symptoms of PITS.
[2] Other aspects of the ILO's workplace safety conventions maintain standards of workers' compensation in the event of injury; the ILO calls for legal protections and regulations that offer fully paid medical care and rehabilitation for workers disabled or injured while on the job, as well as compensation for time taken off due to workplace injuries.
"[2] While such standards do not require countries to eliminate all risks - whether major or minor - workers do have the right to know that when they go to work and complete their tasks, "they will be able to leave the workplace at the end of the day with life and limb intact.
[2] When determining fines, the agency has wide discretion: OSHA considers many factors including the employer's previous compliance with safety standards, size, good faith, and the severity of the violation.
