Protect Women in the Poultry Processing Industry

From Interfaith Worker Justice (http://www.iwj.org):

Everyday, a quarter of a million people head to a brutal job: processing poultry in meat packing plants across the country.

Processing poultry is particularly harsh, with workers forced to make the same two or three motions on a processing lines for hours on end, often while being denied bathroom and water breaks and sometimes suffering chronic pain and lifelong debilitations.

For every worker in these processing plants, the work is difficult and unforgiving.

But for the women working in poultry processing plants, the risks to their health and safety are significantly greater.

Women in poultry plants face a greater risk of serious injury.

When women are denied bathroom and water breaks, the risk for infection is higher than for men.

Pregnant women are denied critical self-care in the name of ever-faster lines. More than one woman has reported losing her baby to miscarriage as a result of these abuses.

Sexual harassment runs rampant and the options for recourse for victims of harassment are scant.

Support these women by signing the petition demanding improved health and safety for women in poultry processing plants at http://org.salsalabs.com/o/1035/p/salsa/web/questionnaire/public/?questionnaire_KEY=1908.

Chicken is one of the most consumed foods in the United States. The four corporations that control the majority of the poultry market have drastically increased their profits in recent years as demand and consumption have increased for chicken. But the weight of this increase in demand has fallen on the shoulders of the workers, who face regularly increased line speeds that put their safety further in jeopardy simply to increase the corporate profit margin.

But more profits haven’t meant better wages for workers, just more injuries and even fewer opportunities for water and bathroom breaks.

Recently, the coalition of IWJ worker centers and allies successfully defeated a proposal by the big four poultry corporations to eliminate limits on line speeds altogether. After our coalition met with US Department of Agriculture officials and presented them with petitions, public comments, and worker testimony about the realities in poultry processing plants, the USDA rejected the corporate proposal to increase line speeds.

The federal government heard us. Now it’s the big poultry corporations’ turn.

Sign the petition to the big four poultry companies and urge them to protect women by slowing line speeds and ensuring every worker receives bathroom and water breaks, as needed.  

We are grateful to you for adding your voice to this campaign for dignity and justice in poultry plants.