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Processors dispute data on food workers’ quality of life
Story Date: 6/19/2012
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Source: Michael Fielding, MEATINGPLACE, 6/19/12
Major processors are refuting the data released in a report that paints a poor picture of the quality of life among workers in the food sectors.
According to a report by the Food Chain Workers Alliance that examines wages and working conditions of workers across the entire food chain, 25 percent Latinos and 75 percent of Asians in meat packing and poultry processing don’t receive the minimum wage. “The Hands that Feed Us: Challenges and Opportunities for Workers Along the Food Chain” is based on nearly 700 surveys and interviews with workers and employers in food production, processing, distribution, retail and service.
Several phone calls placed by Meatingplace seeking clarification and more background on the data, such as how the respondents were selected to be surveyed, were not returned by the Alliance. Founded in 2009, the Food Chain Workers Alliance is a coalition of worker-based organizations from the food processing industry, including UFCW Local 770 — the largest local union of the UFCW in the United States.
Major meat processors, at least, dispute the findings. Contacted by Meatingplace, a Cargill spokesman said that not only does the company meet minimum-wage requirements, but it pays significantly higher wages. Spokesman Mike Martin also confirmed that most of the company’s processing facilities are unionized.
“We pay on average about $14 per hour for full-time workers on the beef side — and that’s with health benefits,” he told Meatingplace. “Cargill is in compliance with all of the regulations that exist at all levels related to compensation and benefits.”
Health
The report also highlights what it says is the impact on workers’ health. More than half (58 percent) of respondents reported having no access to health care coverage. Only 17 percent reported having health insurance through their employer. More than half of all the workers surveyed (53 percent) reported having worked while sick. Most (65 percent) of those who said they had worked while ill said they had done so because they lacked paid sick days, another 43 percent because they thought they would lose their job, and 7 percent said they had been threatened by an employer.
Tyson spokesman Worth Sparkman told Meatingplace that the company requires all employees who have been employed for more than three months to enroll in the company-sponsored health plan or to provide proof of enrollment in another health plan.
Additionally, “the majority of our team members compensated at an hourly rate prepare food products in processing plants; they are compensated at or above U.S. minimum wage requirements,” he said, adding that the company’s Compensation Department conducts wage surveys and reviews cost-of-living indicators and community norms regularly. “During fiscal year 2011, our average hourly rate was $12.13 per hour, which is 67 percent higher than federal minimum wage.”
For more stories, go to http://www.meatingplace.com/.
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