The New York Times story on E. coli contamination in ground beef is a graphic account of the dangerous regulatory gap on food safety in this country. It is also a reminder that bacteria is not the only thing that needs monitoring at a food-processing plant. What about labor standards? Workers at the Greater Omaha Packing plant had concerns that they were being asked to work under conditions that were unsafe, not only for their health but for the safety of the food:
“We would step in and stop the line, and do whatever you do to take it off,” said Esley Adams, a former supervisor who said he was fired this summer after 16 years following a dispute over sick leave. “But that doesn't mean everything was caught.”
Two current employees said the flow of carcasses keeps up its torrid pace even when trimmers get reassigned, which increases pressure on workers. To protest one such episode, the employees said, dozens of workers walked off the job for a few hours earlier this year. Last year, workers sued Greater Omaha, alleging that they were not paid for the time they need to clean contaminants off their knives and other gear before and after their shifts. The company is contesting the lawsuit.
In 2005, Human Rights watch released a comprehensive report about labor abuses in the meat-packing industry. Injury rates in the industry were three times higher than in other industries, and wages lagged behind other manufacturing jobs. Industry attempts to keep out unions went hand in hand with their increasing reliance on undocumented or temporary immigrant labor. As David Bacon wrote here: "Workers on temporary visas would be unlikely to sign a union card the next time the line speed got too fast or if wages fell even further behind the manufacturing average."
The HRW report notes, "Meat and poultry industry employers set up the workplaces and practices that create these dangers, but they treat the resulting mayhem as a normal, natural part of the production process, not as what it is -- repeated violations of international human-rights standards. Federal authorities regulate line speed, for example, only in light of two considerations: avoiding adulterated meat and poultry products and not hindering companies' productivity and profits. Workers' safety is a non-factor." Workers reported horrible conditions:
Two or three times a year I get infections under my fingernails. I think it's from the dirty water getting into my gloves. When I go to the clinic they freeze my fingertips and cut out the pus. They don't write anything down about that or do anything to change it.
It should come as no surprise that ignoring workers' safety ultimately results in an inability to provide safe food to consumers.
We talk about food deserts and addressing the needs of low-income communities, but that isn't enough. A truly just, sustainable approach to food has to address production as well as consumption. The food movement is sadly mistaken if it does not seize the opportunity to link sustainable food to sustainable labor practices. The two are irrevocably linked.
--Phoebe Connelly
