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Meatpacking workers' safety still an issue

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Tuesday, Nov 21, 2006 - 11:15:41 pm CST

It’s good to know people are watching the meatpacking industry. 

     The Nebraska Appleseed Center released a report last week that suggested the industry is still too hard on the 20,000 employees in Nebraska, many of them immigrants vulnerable to exploitation.

The industry processes meat at factory-line speeds that are too fast to assure human and food safety, said the Appleseed Center, a public-policy advocate for the poor and disenfranchised.

“Federal oversight of health and safety in meatpacking plants is at an all-time low,” the report said.

Almost a year ago, Human Rights Watch issued a report  identifying familiar issues in the industry: high injury rates, excessive production line speed, intimidation of immigrant workers and efforts to prevent employees from exercising their right to organize and engage in collective bargaining. It also alleged that companies manipulate workers so their injuries go unreported and they are unable to claim disability compensation.

Finally, the report directed criticism at state and federal officials for failing to enforce laws that should help protect workers.

Which brings us to the point: Six years ago, after reading the Journal Star’s 1999 series of reports on working conditions in Nebraska meatpacking plants, then-Gov. Mike Johanns recognized the troubles of this industry  and said the Journal Star stories “tugged at his heart.”

He issued a bill of rights for meatpacking workers in Nebraska:

* To be able to organize.

* To have a safe workplace.

* To have adequate facilities and the opportunity to use them.

* To have adequate equipment.

* To be given complete information.

* To be able to understand the information provided.

* To be aware of existing state and federal benefits and rights.

* To be free from discrimination.

* To have continuing training, including supervisor training.

* To receive compensation for work performed.

* To be able to seek state help.

 For his initiative, Johanns won this testimonial in 2002:  “His bold leadership sets a positive example for other states in creating the safest environment for meatpacking plant workers and creating a system by which workers are made aware of their rights,” the National Association of State Workforce Agencies declared.

We don’t expect to be able to judge from here whether the production lines in some plants we haven’t seen are going too fast.

But we know the former governor of our state, now the U.S. secretary of Agriculture, thought enough of the circumstances to act six years ago.

Since this interstate industry is supposed to be covered by federal laws and regulations governing everything from worker safety, to food safety, we think it would be appropriate for Secretary Johanns to declare the Nebraska meatpacking workers’ bill of rights a national policy.  

And make it stick. 

Six years ago, Milo Mumgaard, executive director of the Nebraska Appleseed Center, said the bill of rights was nothing more and nothing less than a recitation of rights that already exist in law.

Now, the secretary should commit to the enforcement of those rights on a national scale.


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D wrote on November 21, 2006 12:34 am:
" Ah yes, but now he is politically appointed not elected. On another note, turn the clock ahead 20 years and what will the meatpacking plant workers do for a living? Youth, endurance, and the ability to withstand pain are the qualifiers to stand in the high speed produciton line. Been there, done that, and got the heck out of there as fast as I could. I am not afraid of hard work and I do work hard but not repetitive motion and body destroying hard work. "
Funkel wrote on November 21, 2006 6:12 am:
" Unions, Unions, Unions are the only way they will get better working conditions "
Bah wrote on November 21, 2006 6:38 am:
" Yes, Protect the workers! But, send the illegals back where they belong. INS needs to visit these meatpacking plants to hold them accountable. Nebraska Appleseed Center would love nothing more than to continue the slavery of illegals in our meatpacking plants! "
Sean1 wrote on November 21, 2006 7:06 am:
" So the Journal Star is supporting illegal immigration throughout the nation? "
MeatPacker wrote on November 21, 2006 12:52 pm:
" Let us presuppose that unions are the answer to this problem-whoops I forgot-unions aren't the answer they are the solution. Guess we should make beef packers into Steel Workers and see how that goes. "
vanessa humaran wrote on November 21, 2006 12:57 pm:
" It's nice to comment under nicknames and once again call out illegal immigration as the culprit. I would like to see you "bah" and "Sean1" to put on a "brown mexican" suit and apply at a meatpacking industry. It doesn't matter if you're legal or "illegal" as you like to call it. Your skin color determines all judgment , and once you quit, and come back from your little expirement, post something worth reading. It's people like you that give Racism it's power and strength. You represent but one person, so stop making Nebraskans seem ignorant and prejudice, because I am raising a daughter in Nebraska, and I wish people like you would step up to me with your nonsense, because I'd love to see your face, and yes, I'm a mexican woman and proud to be American. Say what you want, but have respect. "
chew on this wrote on November 21, 2006 1:26 pm:
" Perhaps if these issues did not only tug at Mike Johanns' heart, but traveled from their to his brain stem, he might put forth a systematic plan with enforcement attached instead of offering up the toothless platitudes of his "bill of rights for meatpacking workers." The cheap meat and burgers Americans consume like nobody else come at great expense to workers who are often exploited immigrants in plants where corporations broke all unions years ago then cut wages in half, upped chain speeds, and slashed benefits. But, there is the additional "expense" of the livestock treated inhumanely along much of the path from birth to their disassembly; water polluted by their wastes; disproportionate amounts of land dedicated to growing their feed; and meat filled with the antibiotics and hormones bumped into the livestock causing who-knows-exactly-what health effects. And, no, I ain't a vegetarian so don't even hit me with that inane rant. I'm just saying that as a nation we can, and should, do a much better job in our food production. In Nebraska, at the heart of a good deal of that production, we do not lead in that effort. Instead, we continually elect and re-elect political hacks who represent the interests of corporations at the expense of all else. And, the same LJS that endorses those candidates and helps get them elected somehow seems to continually complain about the predictable results. Puzzling. "
Freaks wrote on November 21, 2006 3:29 pm:
" If all the illegal immigration freaks get their way and we stop Mexicans from working in these plants no one will be able to afford a cut of meat anymore. Get ready for a 70 dollar steak. If locals start working in these plants they would demand enough pay to live on, time off for vacation, decent hours and something done about the pain and the hell of working in them. And that spells money folks. "
Max wrote on November 21, 2006 3:37 pm:
" The only way that any progress will be made is if immigration issues are dealt with head on. Either give them amnesty or kick them out because as long as they are here and in fear of deportation, these conditions will continue to exist. "
hmmm wrote on November 21, 2006 10:32 pm:
" I know people working in meat packing plants. They make 13 to 15 bucks an hour and have family health insurance coverage at 10 bucks per week. Sounds like a pretty good deal. I find it amusing the ignorance out there regarding the meat packing business. But to be fair, I know people who worked in the meat packing business in the early 70's who were making 19 dollars per hour, that's 1970's dollars. Bottom line, the American people have no one to blame but themselves and we will self destruct as a country, shouldn't take more than 20 more years. I've given up trying to explain that to people as the average American is so ignorant and uneducated that they just don't get it, the people that do get it are too few to make a difference. The time for America has passed, let it fade into history and maybe someday, somewhere, some society will make it work for the long run. "
chew on this wrote on November 22, 2006 1:45 pm:
" In the early '80s over half of meat packing plant workers belonged to a union. In the early '80s there was a wave of plant closings and forced deunionization as the industry consolidated into a few giant agribus corporations controlling everything. In 1970 the top four companies controlled 20 percent of the industry; by 2001 they controlled 85 percent. The trend has only continued since then. According to the US Census Bureau and the USDA, average wages after 1982 fell "substantially." The base wage for union packing plant workers in 1982 was $10.69, and the average workers at large plants who were making $16.11 in 1982 were making only $8.44 ten years later -- and that's not adjusted for inflation. Eleven years later, in 2003, the average was was still a paltry $11.59. And, as this editorial indicates, working conditions have deteriorated drastically right along with the pay. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, meatpacking is the nation's most dangerous occupation. In 1999, more than one-quarter of America's nearly 150,000 meatpacking workers suffered a job-related injury or illness. Not only that, the meatpacking industry also has by far the highest rate of serious injury—more than five times the national average, as measured in lost workdays. The corporations have succeeded in getting legislation passed to limit their liability in the instance of serious employee injury. Under Colorado law, for example, the maximum payment for losing an arm is $37,738. Losing a digit brings you anywhere from $2,400 to $9,312, depending on whether it's a middle finger, a pinkie, or a thumb. Anybody who calls the current wages and working conditions honest pay for an honest day's work either hasn't worked in a packing plant, or has done some serious mental gymnastics romanticizing the experience. When my dad was a union worker in those plants before the changes and consolidation in the '80s he was not only making around $16/hr., but receiving full family health insurance plus a decent employee pension plan. He worked himself nearly to death, but he proudly provided a decent living for his family. That could not happen these days. Given that Nebraska's manufacturing wages average 13 percent below the national average, it takes a certain credulity to assert that workers in packing plants here are getting a "pretty good deal." Or, perhaps more accurately, ya gotta live in Nebraska to think like that. "
Lisa wrote on November 22, 2006 2:53 pm:
" The Nebraska Appleseed Center can't just pick and choose what "laws" are important. Its OK to demand legislation to enforce workers rights at meat-packing plants, but Nebraska Appleseed Center certainly chooses to dismiss any laws pertaining to illegal immigrants. "
hmmm wrote on November 22, 2006 8:17 pm:
" It's true that wages have declined substantially in the meat packing industry, but not every plant pays crappy wages. Yeah, compared to the the 70's and 80's it's pathetic, but not every packing plant has crap wages. I do know many folks working in the industry making 13 to 15 per hour or more and getting very inexpensive full health coverage for the entire family, plus a pension and 401k. Is it happening in every plant? No. But there are places it is happening. I also know highly trained multi degreed folks who are making 40 to 50 thousand per year for big corporations, some in meatpacking, some in technical fields etc. Yeah, they make good money but they work 50 to 60 hours per week and pay anywhere from 400 to 800 per month for health insurance, have no pension and a marginal 401k plan. These folks are worse off in the long run than a lot of people working in manufacturing. Will things get better? Not likely, most Americans are uneducated and ignorant. They are either completely oblivious to what is going on around them, or buy into the liberal/conservative BS that the media and politicians spew out everyday and refuse to think beyond these narrow parameters. I don't care how many degrees most educated people have, they just haven't learned to think, and the way our education and political system is there is really no hope for any change at all. "
whatever wrote on November 22, 2006 8:34 pm:
" Neither the Democrats nor the Republicans will do anything meaningful about meatpacking or illegal immigration. One, big business counts on this cheap labor. Two, the humanitarians among us think they are doing a service to mankind by letting the illegals destroy the very elements of this country that make it prosperous enough to help those that truly need it. Third, the "powers that be" really have yet to live in a community that has seen it's school and healthcare and system collapse under the weight of illegal immigration. Given the birth rate of the average hispanic woman and the number of illegals entering this country, plus the failure of these "communities" to integrate into our society, it isn't going to take too many more years before the "powers that be" wake up. By then it will be too late and we will have relinquished much of what we and our ancestors have built. We will also have destroyed our ability to help those that truly need it. Really it just boils down to a numbers game, a game the United States will lose if it does not change it's policies. "
response wrote on November 22, 2006 8:42 pm:
" To those that feel to be against illegal immigration is racist, do some research on the treatment of German Americans, Swedish Americans or Czech Americans around the time of World War I. Many of these fine people back then were forced at gun point to learn to speak English and assimilate. Frankly the illegal immigrants have been treated pretty good by this country, but keep pushing people and offending people and you may just find out what real racism is all about, and I guarentee you anything you have experienced in your life is pretty mild compared to what many of our ancestors experienced 80 years ago. "
Hjalmer wrote on November 25, 2006 7:36 am:
" "Chew on this" has the facts right. Now, why should you care? Given that a major industry in Nebraska is food processing, the fact that our workers are poorly paid for the product they provide to the nation means that our State is cheated from a reasonable share of the national income. That means YOU get paid less too and have to PAY more in taxes to support the State. Every Nebraskan should be in favor of measures to raise workers wages. "
mariann davies wrote on November 26, 2006 4:19 pm:
" I'm all for the Bill of Rights for meatpacking employees in Nebraska and anywhere in the United States SO LONG AS THEY ARE U.S. citizens or legal residents. The industry is covered not only by a myriad of federal and state workplace laws, but FEDERAL IMMIGRATION LAWS that make it a crime to hire/harbor/aid/abet/assist ILLEGAL ALIENS. The meatpacking industry first needs to make sure they hire only LEGAL workers. "
rich wrote on November 27, 2006 4:25 pm:
" i wonder what the displaced legal workers have to say about this - never heard any problems then - "
Tara Murphy wrote on December 20, 2006 1:08 pm:
" I would add that workers should be educated about the Rule of Law outlined in the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, that it applies to everyone, immigrants and government officials, and that prior to making demands, whether reasonable or not, it would serve them and everyone in communities where immigrants (mostly illegal) live to be familiar with the basics of our democratic system -- not just what we cam provide economically. That seems a small price to pay for salaries that far exceed what they could earn in their home countries. "
legalatina wrote on December 28, 2006 9:46 pm:
" If organizations like Nebraska Appleseed support, hire/harbor/aid/assist illegal aliens using any taxpayer money, then stop donating to them, don't donate to umbrella organizations like the United Way who funnel donations to many open-borders, pro-illegal alien groups. Demand that your state NOT provide taxpayer funding to groups who support illegal aliens. "

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