Monday, 22-Nov-1999 23:04:52 EST A - I n f o s a multi-lingual news service by, for, and about anarchists castellano deutche english francais italiano svenska portuguese esperanto etc. (en) poultry worker survey finds violations From "Shawn Ewald" Date Fri, 13 Feb 1998 01:09:17 -0700 Comments Authenticated sender is Priority normal ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ________________________________________________ A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E http://www.ainfos.ca/ ________________________________________________ Labor Department Poultry Investigation Shows Industry Violations February 12, 1998 [Information in this alert comes from the National Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice, (773) 381-2832; web site: www.igc.org/nicwj e-mail: and from the New York Times (article by Steven Greenhouse follows alert).] The Department of Labor's first report from its poultry industry compliance survey showed that 60 percent of the plants surveyed were in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act overtime provisions. Religious leaders expressed their concern at the extent of violations in poultry plants and called for diligent oversight and regulation to correct the widespread problems. The survey, undertaken in October and November 1997, found widespread violations of Wage and Hour laws and numerous ways the industry could reduce workplace injuries. Researchers talked with workers and plant supervisors and reviewed documents in 51 poultry plants (out of a total of 174). Among the findings: * Over 60 percent of the plants failed to pay overtime to the chicken catching crews for hours worked over 40 per week. * Over 51 percent of the plants failed to pay workers for time spent engaged in job-related preliminary and afterwork tasks such as clean-up. * Over 30 percent failed to pay for brief breaks taken during the workday, such as restroom breaks, nor time while the line is shut down for hosing off or to repair malfunctioning machinery. * 54 percent of the plants surveyed deducted money from workers paychecks for clothing and protective gear for which the companies are required to pay. Some of the companies even "marked up" the cost before passing it along to workers. Currently, the Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor is pursuing cases to recover back wages for workers in approximately 30 plants identified with problems in the survey. This work alone could reclaim hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid overtime pay and illegal deductions for poultry workers. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) of the Department of Labor sought to identify the most prevalent injuries and illnesses in the poultry industry. Its survey indicated that 40 percent of total injuries are due to back injuries, 10 percent of worker illnesses were the result of cumulative traumas, 15 percent were contusions and fractures, and 10 percent were cuts and lacerations. Worker advocates expressed surprise at the low percentage of cumulative trauma injuries. According to Rev. Jim Lewis of the Sussex County Mission of the Episcopal Church and a leading poultry worker advocate on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and Deleware, "Almost every worker we see at our center has soreness and mobility problems in his or her hands. It's hard to believe that only 10 percent of worker illnesses are the result of cumulative trauma, given the high speeds of the poultry lines." Advocates also expressed concern about the survey's lack of attention to respiratory problems, such as problems that just last week sent nine workers in a Florida poultry plant to an emergency room coughing up blood. OSHA explained that it would be following up on safety and health problems in the industry through its overall plan to partner with industries with the highest injury and illness rates. The National Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice urged the Department of Labor to: * Develop a package of educational materials in English and Spanish designed to inform workers of their rights in poultry plants. * Form a partnership with the religious community to distribute information to workers in 174 poultry processing plants. * Investigate wage and hour violations in all poultry plants. If 60 percent of the surveyed plants had violations (30 plants), it is reasonable to expect that at least another 70 plants would have similar violations. This amounts to hundreds of thousands of dollars denied to low-wage workers. * Conduct an OSHA special emphasis enforcement program, including full investigations, in one region with a high concentration of poultry plants. Work intensively with the employers to improve health and safety in the plants, both through intensive enforcement and citations, and through ongoing educational initiatives. * Develop an ergonomics standard that directs employers to implement measures to control cumulative trauma injuries to workers. * Cover immigrant workers recruited by poultry companies under the Migrant and Seasonal Protection Act (MSPA) as well as the Fair Labor Standards Act in order to assure that workers receive accurate disclosure about pay and work conditions if recruited for a job, and to assure that if companies provide housing and transportation that it is decent and safe. REQUESTED ACTION: Poultry workers at the Case Farms plant in Morganton, North Carolina, continue to work without a contract after voting to be represented by the Laborers International Union (LIUNA) more than two and a half years ago. Write Tom Shelton at Case Farms Inc., 1325 Mt. Herman Rd., Box 4276, Salisbury, MD 21803, and urge him to negotiate in good faith with LIUNA. ************************* >From the New York Times February 10, 1998 Overtime Violations at Poultry Plants By STEVEN GREENHOUSE NEW YORK -- Federal inspectors found that more than 60 percent of the nation's poultry processing plants violated overtime laws, the Labor Department announced on Monday. The inspectors, who examined 51 of the nation's 174 poultry plants, also found widespread safety problems, among them frequent back injuries that usually occurred when workers slipped on wet and greasy floors. Deputy Secretary of Labor Kathryn Higgins said that federal inspectors conducted the survey, first, to encourage the industry to improve working conditions and, second, to better understand conditions in plants populated by immigrant, low-wage workers. Federal regulators said the most frequent overtime violations involved the industry's undercounting of the hours worked by chicken catchers, who travel to farms to catch chickens and take them to the plants. These officials said 60 percent of the plants failed to pay the chicken catchers proper overtime, while 51 percent failed to pay workers properly for job-related tasks before and after work, like cleaning up and putting on safety equipment. Greg Denier, a spokesman for the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, said "that 60 percent are not in compliance with the wage-and-hour law shows that they're an outlaw industry." But officials with the National Broiler Council, the industry association, defended the poultry plants by asserting that the level of violations was high mainly because the Labor Department was enforcing the law differently from the way it previously had. David Wylie, a lawyer for the council, said that for 60 years federal officials had regarded chicken catchers as agricultural employees, who are not covered by federal overtime laws, rather than as industrial employees, who are covered. ------- Message History ------- Date: Thu, 12 Feb 1998 22:28:47 -0800 (PST) To: clr@igc.org From: Campaign for Labor Rights Subject: poultry worker survey finds violations Labor Alerts: a service of Campaign for Labor Rights To receive our email labor alerts, send a message to CLR@igc.apc.org Phone: (541) 344-5410 Web site: http://www.compugraph.com/clr Membership/newsletter. Send $35.00 to Campaign for Labor Rights, 1247 "E" Street SE, Washington, DC 20003. 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