“We value our team members and treat them with respect,” according to an e-mailed statement from Tyson.
I doubt executives at Tyson can say they respect workers rights with a straight face. The disgusting realities of the meat industry usually come as no surprise; however, what may be shocking now is the disgusting treatment of workers inside the U.S.
It turns out that workers in plants run by some of the largest U.S. poultry producers are being denied bathroom breaks and, as a result, some are reduced to wearing diapers while working on the processing lines. Many of the companies that believe bathroom breaks are to inconveniencing are Tyson Foods Inc., Pilgrim’s Pride Corp., Perdue Farms Inc. and Sanderson Farms Inc. Some unnamed employees of these factories were interviewed regarding the working conditions and said that the supervisors continually mock them, ignore requests for the bathroom and threaten punishment or firing.
The treatment of the workers is not only destroying their dignity, and making their management look like chicken-fried d-bags, but there are terrible health implications as well.
Many of the workers will go out of their way to starve and dehydrate themselves in order to avoid wearing diapers. Furthermore, if someone is to use a diaper, the not so surprising outcome from hours of standing in one’s own excretion is a possible likelihood of infections. And the story still isn’t over. Many of the victims who experience medical issues throughout these factories are pregnant and menstruating women who cannot leave the processing lines.
Where do these infectious diseases spread to in meat factories with poor conditions? If you guessed that they spread to all of the meat that we are going to eat then you’re correct.
After all of the well deserved publicity that the meat industries have been getting because of the workers rights both inside and outside the U.S, many organizations like Human Rights Watch have decided to jump into the discussion. Sure enough, Human Rights Watch concluded in a 175 page report that workers face a high risk of severe cuts, losing limbs or even losing their lives in unsafe work conditions. However, if you do end up in one of these jobs just remember, the employer will likely retaliate against you if you report your injury, you won’t be compensated and you’ll probably be laughed at.
The question now is what should we make of these recent discoveries? Many of us turned our heads when we thought this issue was only in other countries, but what goes around does in fact come around and we are now facing these problems for ourselves.
Although these issues appear to be daunting, and it’s much easier to just eat in shame, there are possible solutions. Bringing more awareness to problem can help more people get involved, which could lead to creating larger unions especially in other countries. If these unions can become stronger they can push for changes in better leadership, including members of the government and the heads of companies.
One example of a leader we can look up to who had the gall to fight the food industry was Theodore Roosevelt. During his presidency, he created the Pure Food and Drug Act to assist in creating dissent conditions for the food industries. Ironically, more than 100 years later we can’t manage to find a leader that will address these problems.
The new reports on working conditions provide the startling fact that history is, yet again, repeating itself. Unless there is change, factory conditions won’t improve. Food is something that we all share, and if there is a positive increase in working conditions, we by default will benefit as well.
We must now ask ourselves whether we will allow these abuses to continue, or will we open our eyes and address the issues at hand. Only time will tell, and the history books are waiting for our answer.