Overworked, Underpaid Turkey Killers
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Here’s some cheery Thanksgiving-themed news…
The U.S. Department of Labor is suing Henry’s Turkey Service for allegedly paying its mentally retarded workers $65 per month to work in an eastern Iowa processing plant.
A little background info on the worker’s rights violations that took place at a turkey slaughterhouse:
The men were employees of Henry’s Turkey Service, a Texas labor broker that provided the men with food and lodging in return for most of the wages they earned while working in the West Liberty Foods plant in Muscatine County.
The bunkhouse was shut down by the state fire marshal shortly after the Des Moines Register asked state regulators why the 21 mentally retarded laborers were living in what appeared to be an unlicensed care facility or group home. State health investigators concluded that the men were dependent on others for their daily care and weren’t capable of living on their own. [...]
The department alleges that Henry’s Turkey Service paid the men only $65 per month “regardless of the number of hours worked,” which resulted in the men receiving less than the minimum wage. Some of the men worked more than 40 hours per week in the processing plant, but were not compensated for their work, the lawsuit alleges.
The company also failed to keep accurate and complete records of the men’s work hours and wages, the department alleges.
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Go here for more background info >>
As Jonathan Safran Foer wrote in his book, Eating Animals:
“Undercover investigations have consistently revealed that farm workers, laboring under what Human Rights Watch describes as ‘systematic human rights violations’ have often let their frustrations loose on farmed animals or simply succumbed to the demands of supervisors to keep slaughter lines moving at all costs and without second thoughts. [...] The responsibility lies with the mentality of the meat industry that treats both animals and ‘human capital’ like machines.”
Or as I have said:
Two kinds of people kill animals for a living: the ones who want to and the ones who don’t.
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Hat tip: Bea
This is an important discussion. I originally went vegan for animal rights reason, but I’ve realized over the years that the ethics of veganism is so complex. Not everyone is sensitive to the treatment of animals but there’s so much more at stake. It’s crucial that we address all the issues, you never know what will touch people’s hearts.
Great work,
Marcy
I believe had I just known about the worker abuse during my pre-vegan days it would have been enough then to convert my view on “meat” and slaughterhouse “tasks”. The exploitation to workers feeds on desperation. It’s truly vile to support such systems. (go vegan!)
.-= Bea Elliott´s last blog ..Two Face Animal Ag Billboard – Slaughterhouse Care =-.