***For Immediate Release***
Monday, November 22, 2021
Contact: Magdalena Cazarez
Communications Director, Nebraska Appleseed
O: (402) 438-8853 ext 119
C: (402) 504-0074
mcazarez@neappleseed.org
Community, Worker, and Farmer Groups Welcome Meatpacking Legislation
Bill Introduced as Nebraskans Prepare for Holidays with Family and Food
NEBRASKA – Today, as Nebraskans prepare for holidays with family and food, the Protecting America’s Meatpacking Workers Act was introduced in Congress to make our food system more resilient, fair, and safe – with long-overdue safety protections for people who work in large-scale meat and poultry processing plants and fair-market reforms to support local farmers and ranchers.
Public concern has continued to grow before and during COVID-19 about large-scale meat and poultry processors’ dangerous plant conditions as well as unfair market control.
“Our parents care about the quality of the food they process for everyone’s tables, and we care about the safety of our parents,” said Dulce Castañeda of Children of Smithfield. \”Dangerously fast processing lines cause painful injuries, serious food safety risks, and we hear the industry pressures on local farmers and ranchers as well. On all sides, Nebraska communities will be well served by this legislation.\”
“Nebraska Farmers Union supports legislative efforts to provide safe workplaces for meatpacking workers, and ag market reforms to increase competition and transparency,” said John K. Hansen, President of Nebraska Farmers Union. “We applaud Senator Booker’s efforts to combine more fair treatment for food producers and food processing workers. It represents a good start on both fronts.”
“This bill is so important for local Nebraska communities. We have too many permanently injured people and the numbers keep growing,” said Olga Guevara, Executive Director of Unity in Action in South Sioux City. “Meatpacking safety protections will help keep community members safe, which keeps our communities strong.”
“For twenty years, I have met moms and dads who can no longer hold their child, young men who never expected to be disabled at the age of 30, and so many people with damaged hands and shoulders who can no longer perform daily tasks,” said Gloria Sarmiento, Senior Community Organizer with Nebraska Appleseed. “It’s time to prevent this for Nebraska families and communities.”
“The UFCW Local 293 welcomes this important bill,” said Eric Reeder, President of the UFCW Local 293. “Things like coming home safe at the end of the workday and reliable bathroom access should be a basic part of processing the nation’s food. Unfortunately it’s not, and this bill will help get us there.”
Examples of protections included in the bill are:
- A requirement for OSHA to finalize safety protections to prevent meat and poultry worker amputations and musculoskeletal injuries common from dangerously fast line speeds, insufficient staffing, and other factors.
- A requirement for packing plants to ensure sufficient toilets and bathroom access without punishment.
- Prevention of the line-speed waivers that have allowed large-scale processors to further increase speeds, creating serious food and worker safety risks.
- Strengthening the Packers & Stockyards Act to support local farmers, ranchers, and local food systems.
- Government Accountability Office reports on racial and ethnic disparities in meat and poultry processing, fragility in the nation’s food system, and line speeds.
More information about the bill can be found here. The full text of the legislation can be viewed here.
The meat and poultry industry has a decades-long record of high injury rates, as documented in community, medical, academic, and government studies, such as: “No somos máquinas” (We are not machines): Worker perspectives of safety culture in meatpacking plants in the Midwest (American J of Industrial Medicine 2020), When We\’re Dead and Buried Our Bones Will Keep Hurting (Human Rights Watch 2019), No Relief: Denial of Bathroom Breaks in the Poultry Industry (Oxfam 2016), GAO: Additional Data Needed to Address Continued Hazards in the Meat and Poultry Industry (Government Accountability Office 2017), Lives on the Line: The High Human Cost of Chicken (Oxfam 2015), NIOSH Health Hazard Evaluation of a poultry processing plant (National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health 2014), Petition for Work Speed Protections to OSHA and USDA (Southern Poverty Law Center, Nebraska Appleseed, Heartland Workers Center, and other worker and civil rights organizations, 2013), Unsafe at These Speeds (Southern Poverty Law Center 2013), Always Working Beyond the Capacity of Our Bodies (Midwest Coalition for Human Rights 2012), The Speed Kills You: The Voice of Nebraska\’s Meatpacking Workers (Nebraska Appleseed 2009), and Blood, Sweat and Fear: Workers\’ Rights in US Meat and Poultry Plants (Human Rights Watch 2005).
A large number of Nebraska community, worker, faith, public health, and farmer organizations across the state have worked for many years – including during the COVID-19 pandemic – to improve packing plant safety as well as fair markets to support local producers. Additional contacts available for comment include ACLU of Nebraska, GC RESOLVE, Nebraska State AFL-CIO, Solidarity with Packing Plant Workers, SOMOSgi of Grand Island, and others.
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