Witness for Peace Southeast launched their annual Holy Week pilgrimage through North Carolina to draw attention to social injustices. Their Palm Sunday stop was a gathering with poultry workers in Morganton, NC.
Sanitation workers in the meatpacking industry face life-threatening dangers on the job; number of OSHA inspectors down under Trump; truckers feel the pressure to work while sleep-deprived; and despite increased demand for sexual harassment training, there’s little evidence it actually works.
Food Safety & Nutrition
Government auditors validate safety complaints from meat and poultry workers
An investigation by GAO of the meatpacking and poultry industry validates concerns raised by workers about fear of losing their jobs if they report safety problems, and being denied access to the bathroom and proper medical care for injuries.
In many households, a Thanksgiving tradition is for someone at the table to express appreciation for the meal in front of them. We often overlook the individuals who do the labor-intensive and dangerous work that brings the turkeys and other food to our table.
APHA Annual Meeting
Occupational health, environmental protections the focus of new public health policies
The American Public Health Association adopted 13 new policy statements. Six of them address priority topics on worker safety and environmental health.
At BuzzFeed News, Zahra Hirji and Jason Leopold report that the news organization has obtained internal emails, recordings and interviews from oil company BP showing that executives are struggling to “reset” its Alaska operations after a string of incidents that threatened workers’ lives. For example, on Sept. 10, two workers inadvertently triggered a leak of […]
Reporters investigate a court-ordered rehab center that funnels unpaid labor to a poultry processor; Ben & Jerry’s commits to improving conditions for workers on dairy farms; Massachusetts is one step closer to providing all public-sector workers with OSHA protections; and the Trump administration rolls back protections for transgender workers.
Environmental Health
Popeyes, KFC’s supplier has sanitation problem, Senator takes notice of unsafe conditions
Case Farms poultry has a sanitation problem. Workers don’t have access to the bathroom when they need to use it.
Food Safety & Nutrition
Georgia congressman resurrects bad idea, poultry workers threatened with faster line speeds
A Georgia congressman thinks poultry plants should be able to increase line speeds to 175 birds per minute. That was a bad idea from Obama’s USDA. It was nixed, but now it’s resurrected.
Investigation reveals how Case Farms poultry plants exploit immigrant workers; Chinese workers who make Ivanka Trump’s clothing line are overworked and underpaid; California lawmakers consider bill to protect salon workers from harmful chemicals; and Trump’s budget would slash funds for combating child and forced labor overseas.