A-Infos (en) poultry worker survey finds violations

["Shawn Ewald" <shawn@wilshire.net>]

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     A - I N F O S  N E W S  S E R V I C E
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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:
<nicwj@igc.org> 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 <clr@igc.apc.org>
Subject:       poultry worker survey finds violations

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