Mentally Handicapped Kept in Appalling Conditions, Working at a Turkey Plant

by: Jill Richardson

Thu Feb 12, 2009 at 23:42:17 PM PST

From The Des Moines Register (which is rapidly becoming one of my favorite newspapers):

Since the late 1970s, Henry's Turkey Service has been shipping mentally retarded men from Texas to Iowa to work in the West Liberty plant. Henry's has acted as the workers' employer, landlord and caregiver - paying the men a reduced wage for their work at the plant and then deducting from their pay the cost of room, board and care. Payroll records indicate the men are left with as little as $65 per month in salary.

Did you read that? $65 per month. Here's how they pull that one off:

Keith Brown, 57, has lived there since 1979. His sister, Sherri Brown, said her brother has $80 in the bank after working 30 years for Henry's.

Payroll records obtained by the Register show that in January Henry's Turkey Service deducted $487 from Brown's earnings to pay for his room and board. The company also deducted $572 for "kind care," although the bunkhouse is an unregulated group home, not a facility that provides medical care or assistance.

That's $487 for room and board per month per person even though the ENTIRE BUILDING cost the company $600 total to rent each month. There were 21 men, mostly in their 50s and 60s, living in these conditions, in a building known as "the bunkhouse." Let's see... $487 x 21... $10,227 per month in room and board from these guys when the entire building costs $600.

The 106-year-old bunkhouse, once a school, sits high on a windswept hilltop in Atalissa.

The cracked foundation, locked doors, and boarded-up windows have long given the structure the appearance of an abandoned building.

Later, the article mentions that the bunkhouse had a nasty cockroach problem and it was incredibly cold and drafty. The men's caretaker, who does sound very loving towards them, put plywood over the windows to help with the drafts because so many repairs were needed and not done.

And what do these men do for their $65 or so a month?

Typically, their days began at 2:30 a.m., when they were awakened. At 4:30 a.m., they were taken into the still-dark yard and loaded into passenger vans for the six-mile drive to the West Liberty plant. Once there, they donned protective clothing and went to work "on the line," cleaning turkeys. Gene Berg, a 53-year-old cancer patient, has worked there as a "gut puller." Billy and Robert Penner, two brothers in their 60s, have pulled guts and plucked feathers.

Legally, the plant can pay these men less than minimum wage because, in theory, their special needs make them less productive than other employees.

The FBI is investigating and this is a terrible embarrassment for the town where it occurred that nobody intervened sooner. The men were taken from "the bunkhouse" after their story was discovered and moved to a hotel, but now there's a question about where they will go.

Victory for Labor at Beef Northwest!

by: Jill Richardson

Wed Nov 12, 2008 at 07:16:19 AM PST

Well, Beef NW gave in! We won! They've reached a settlement with United Farm Workers, although none of those details are public. Here are a few statements from a press release from Country Natural Beef.

Country Natural Beef will continue its two-year cooperation with Food Alliance in developing feedlot standards and certification similar to what we have at the individual ranches. The compassionate treatment of our beef animals and fair, equitable working conditions for the workers who care for them are core values of Country Natural Beef and our urban customers. It is important that we clearly define those values and verify them with third party certification.

The absence of collective bargaining laws governing agricultural workers leaves a void wherein unfairness abounds. Workers who want to organize have no mechanism to do so. Unions who are asked to assist workers have no effective method to engage the employer. The employer has no rules to follow and any activity they perform is portrayed as union busting. Customers of the employer become subject to intense economic pressures. The current situation is uniformly unfair for the worker, the union, the employer, and third parties and invokes discontentment and chaos.

Continuing the Campaign for Fair Food

by: JayinPhiladelphia

Tue Oct 21, 2008 at 04:37:56 AM PDT

But in Florida right now, in 2008 - a farmworker has to pick 4,000 pounds of tomatoes to earn $50 -

Since 1978, wages have been stagnant, said Melody Gonzalez, co-coordinator of the Student/Farmworker Alliance.

Florida tomato pickers earn an average of $0.45 for every 32 pounds of tomatoes, according to the SFA and the CIW. To earn $50, a worker has to pick 4,000 pounds of tomatoes, or 125 buckets.

"When there's a lot of tomatoes out there, maybe, if you're a fast picker ... you could pick that many," Gonzalez said. "But there's days when there are not many tomatoes in the field, it's raining and you have to stop midday. Then you're not able to earn $50 every day."

The Coalition of Immokalee Workers is still fighting the good fight these days, though...

Let's Not Forget The Farmworkers This Labor Day

by: JayinPhiladelphia

Sun Aug 31, 2008 at 16:00:38 PM PDT

It's September tomorrow, and the transition will come soon - the squash become harder, the berries give way to apples and pears...salads and light sandwiches step aside to make room for soup and chili, potatoes make the move from cold salads to hot and creamy au gratin.  I'll enjoy these last few weeks of fresh local tomatoes; even as I get the oven ready for heavy-duty work again on these upcoming wet and windy 40 and 50-something degree days and 30-something nights, and dust off my butternut squash sauce and (in)famous Oregon Winter Pizza recipes...

Of course, the current American 'food' system overall is hardly pastoral or idyllic...and exploitation is the rule for the tens (hundreds?) of thousands of farmworkers and food processing plant workers who make possible the many great holiday feasts of millions of Americans on these occasions.

More below the fold...