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March 4, 2005 Working Conditions at Poultry Plant MPB Radio broadcast by Patty Davis
Jackson, Mississippi - The Mississippi Poultry Workers’ Center hosted editor and author Lance Compa at the Capitol yesterday as he delivered copies of his report, Blood, Sweat, and Fear, to legislators. Compa: “The report by Human Rights Watch confirmed that meat and poultry labor is the most dangerous factory job in the United States.”
Tyson Foods is mentioned in the report, but Compa admits he’s never visited a Mississippi plant.
Compa: “My field work for the report took place in Arkansas, Nebraska, and North Carolina and we used data and information from around the country to put together a picture of this industry that is a very chilling one.” Speaking with the help of interpreter Angela Stuesse, former poultry worker Victor Perez said even though injured on the job he had to see a doctor on his own time and with his own money, but kept working. Perez: “I was packaging seventy bags of chickens per minute with a recent surgery on one arm and a fracture in my other wrist.” Compa: “The state has major jurisdiction over workers compensation and the state can also do a lot to enforce health and safety laws and we think this is two areas where the State of Mississippi can really show leadership.” In response to the Human Rights Watch Report, Tyson Foods says “we’re disappointed by the report’s misleading conclusions” and cited the author’s extensive ties to organized labor. For MPB News, I’m Patty Davis. |
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Listen to this report at
Compa’s
report shows workers are reporting high rates of injuries yet are unable to gain
adequate compensation. It also contends there is management resistance to the
workers’ efforts to organize. 