Worker abuse documented -- yet again -- in the South's poultry industry

http://southernstudies.org/facingsouth/2008/02/worker-abuse-documented-yet-again-in.asp


The next time you pick up a House of Raeford product at the grocery store -- Black Forest Turkey Ham, perhaps, or maybe some Chicken Tenders -- you should stop and think about the human suffering that's not listed among the ingredients.

This week the Charlotte Observer is featuring an investigative series titled "The Cruelest Cuts," examining the plight of workers at the poultry giant's Carolina facilities. A team of reporters and editors spent almost two years analyzing documents and interviewing more than 200 poultry workers -- most of them Latino, and many in this country illegally.

The team found compelling evidence the North Carolina-based company failed to report serious injuries such as broken bones and carpal tunnel syndrome, plant officials often dismissed workers' requests for medical care, and regulators failed to take action to protect the workers. Editor Rick Thames places the findings in the context of The next time you pick up a House of Raeford product at the grocery store -- Black Forest Turkey Ham, perhaps, or maybe some Chicken Tenders -- you should stop and think about the human suffering that's not listed among the ingredients.
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15 or 20 yrs. ago I stopped eating chicken to be in solidarity with the workers, mostly women.

chicken barons be damned!


"the South's long and tragic history of worker exploitation:"

I made the decision to become a vegetarian a long time ago; animals should not be bred and raised for the sole purpose of mass slaughter to satisfy our need to for fast food.

The plight of illegal workers is something that doesn't get enough attention and it should.

nt