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Report casts critical eye on poultry worker conditions
Story Date: 3/15/2013
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Source: MEATINGPLACE, 3/15/13
A new report from the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Alabama Appleseed Center for Law and Justice says poultry workers in Alabama are often injured on the job and face frequent deportation threats, and predicts the situation could worsen under proposed new USDA regulations.
The groups interviewed 302 current or former poultry workers for the report and nearly 75 percent described suffering a significant work-related injury or illness. The report notes the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) reported an injury rate of 5.9 percent for poultry processing workers in 2010, double the 3.8 percent injury rate for all U.S. workers.
It suggests USDA’s proposed regulation that would allow poultry companies to increase the speed of processing lines from a maximum of 140 birds per minute to 175 will make matters worse. “There is no state or federal line speed regulation designed specifically to protect the safety of workers who produce the food,” the report states.
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