
Poultry Workers in Diapers as Bathroom Breaks Denied, Oxfam Says - pbhowmic
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-11/poultry-workers-in-diapers-as-bathroom-breaks-denied-oxfam-says
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nefitty
I shouldn't have read this as I was eating. Anyways, this is another example
of why I switched to a vegetarian diet. I am having a hard time wrapping my
brain around the idea that there are people handling food products while
defecating in an adult diaper. If they can't get bathroom breaks, that means
they have to wear that dirty diaper until they are allowed to leave the line.

I don't know what interest Oxfam would have in pushing false allegations about
the poultry industry, so this should be taken very seriously by these
companies. They need to look at managers' and team leaders' incentives around
time limits, etc. If a team leader is being motivated by a strict quota, if
they are enough of a sociopath it could lead to terrible working conditions to
those immediately below them.

~~~
ctrlalt_g
I'm not sure that being a vegetarian protects you from the effects of poor
working conditions in American factories. As long as there is widespread
exploitation of undocumented or otherwise vulnerable workers, I think
conditions like these will continue to be fairly common.

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vinhboy
Maybe this is an indication of how out of touch I am, but I don't see why
there is a push to lower the cost of chicken meat.

It is already super cheap. You can get a whole rotisserie chicken at Safeway
for $5 or less. That's a whole damn chicken, and the labor of someone cooking
it for you!

Unless you're eating a ridiculous amount of chicken at every meal, which you
probably shouldn't, the cost of chicken could be higher if it means better
working conditions and humane treatment of the animal.

~~~
searine
>Unless you're eating a ridiculous amount of chicken at every meal, which you
probably shouldn't, the cost of chicken could be higher if it means better
working conditions and humane treatment of the animal.

This is a privileged viewpoint.

When dealing with food policy you need to view the food system from the
perspective of those impoverished.

Cheap food is a big deal, and often it's the only thing keeping millions of
people in this country from starving. As such, keeping food cheap is an
cornerstone of governmental policy because hunger=revolution.

~~~
teekert
Keeping food cheap, or rather, as cheap as possible makes good food a luxury
item. Redistribution of wealth would be much more effective.

~~~
antisthenes
Redistribution of wealth faces the problem of fleeing capital from your
country.

Remember that the global elite (people who control the vast majority of the
capital) is highly mobile and from their perspective there's no difference
between being robbed and having their wealth "redistributed".

It should also be taken into account that even if the wealth was
redistributed, each poor person would only receive a minute amount, for
example let's say 1 share of Google, Amazon and a few more shares.

They would almost immediately have to sell this wealth to transform it into
income for current needs.

~~~
toomuchtodo
In this case, redistribution would be raising wages. It doesn't matter if "the
global elite" is mobile. They're not going to move their factory farming
operations outside of the US, and if they do, you tariff them when they ship
the product back in.

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collyw
What a fucked up world we are creating. Developed countries seem to be going
backwards.

~~~
DamnYuppie
It seems most companies are hell bent on lowering wages and conditions to the
lowest possible denominator across the world.

~~~
warfangle
That's the natural order of unregulated labor-based capitalism.

~~~
aminok
This is the natural order of human nature. But it turns out that when you let
people profit off of the productive capital they own, they end up investing a
significant portion of their income into creating new capital.

This process of profit motivated investment leads to an increase in
goods/services being generated per capita, and consequently, less need for
manual labour, more leisure time, and a higher standard of living, for the
masses:

[http://www.csmonitor.com/World/2016/0207/Progress-in-the-
glo...](http://www.csmonitor.com/World/2016/0207/Progress-in-the-global-war-
on-poverty)

>Almost unnoticed, the world has reduced poverty, increased incomes, and
improved health more than at any time in history.

^ improvements in the standard of living is the natural order of the world and
even more so when there is a free market in place, as historical cross-country
comparisons show us.

These attempts at making edgy anti-capitalism comments, which essentially
imply that we should impose authoritarian prohibitions, that abridge the right
to private property and engagement in voluntary market transaction, are
embarrassing.

~~~
dv_dt
I think this is going too far in taking the criticism of an edge failure of
capitalism as an attempt for wholesale elimination of capitalism.

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ksenzee
Oxfam press release: [https://www.oxfamamerica.org/press/poultry-industry-
routinel...](https://www.oxfamamerica.org/press/poultry-industry-routinely-
denies-adequate-bathroom-breaks-to-workers-on-the-line-endangering-health-and-
dignity/)

Oxfam report (PDF):
[https://www.oxfamamerica.org/static/media/files/No_Relief.pd...](https://www.oxfamamerica.org/static/media/files/No_Relief.pdf)

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velox_io
I used to work in food factories while at college, it was good money (over
double the minimum wage), but this is over 15 years ago..

I remember one line manager having a go at us, and blaming us for holding up
the production line, he wanted us to be back on the line within the hour. When
it takes 15mins to get around the factory floor and change.

Since then the work force has switched to Eastern Europeans (many Portuguese
were coming over to work when I left), it really depends on who are the
poorest counties in the EU. Now the pay IS the minimum wage (it would lower if
it wasn't a legal requirement).

It's a shame we have this race to the bottom, with so many willing to compete.
It does feel like some sectors are moving back to the Victorian era, where a
persons quality of means very little (even animals have these standards). All
some employers care about is that staff don't get maimed, only because of the
expensive legal settlements and risk of shutting down factories.

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neurobuddha
This story was charging up the front page and then all the sudden it's near
the bottom of page two. What's up with that?

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reustle
Maybe someone influential down voted it? I'm not sure how the algorithm works,
I think most people don't, but I use sites like "hckrnews" to just sort by
time, so you never have that issue.

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cpeterso
If you are interested in reading more about the food industry, I highly
recommend Eric Schlosser's book "Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-
American Meal":

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_Food_Nation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_Food_Nation)

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bramen
Oh good, people defecating themselves while handling the poultry that ends up
on our dinner tables.

But I guess it's worth it to maximize those corporate agriculture profits.
Maybe with all this money we're saving on chicken I can buy some antibiotics.

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Overtonwindow
Another issue that was in the media recently is the increased exposure to
pesticides and harmful chemicals used in agriculture. I've heard that if most
people saw how their food was made they wouldn't eat it anymore.

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nxzero
Until people are willing to pay more for the products and services they
receive, complaining about the working conditions of workers is a bit of a
paradox to me.

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xlm1717
This seems like something that should be fined heavily by the FDA. Definitely
does not seem sanitary in the least.

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bko
The article doesn't say but I imagine many of these workers are pushing up
against the minimum wage. If the minimum wage is above the market wage for
unskilled labor, other dignities are denied to the workers. There is plenty of
non-monetary compensation workers enjoy, including free coffee, generous
vacation, and yes bathroom breaks. When employers are forced to pay more that
the market wage in monetary terms, they compensate by removing other benefits.

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PascalsMugger
Bathroom breaks are not a form of compensation any more than than breathable
air is a form of compensation. They are bare necessitates of life. That kind
of thinking is what leads to this kind of dystopian shit.

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orasis
The solution is simple. Stop buying this crap. Know your farmer and buy your
meat directly from the source.

~~~
CaptSpify
Can't tell if sarcasm or not....

~~~
orasis
I am absolutely serious and entertained by the fact my comment was down voted.

Spend any time around agriculture and you will realize that the cheapest super
market meat is raised completely unethically.

To have a clear conscious 90% of my protein comes from farms and hunters I
know directly. Dairy is still the tricky one I'm trying to figure out.

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jsprogrammer
I think consumers and workers will begin to demand additional evidence of not
bad (hopefully, good) conditions. I want to be able to see my product from
beginning to end. Every moment of the product's life, from raw materials to
reception, should be captured on video and I should be able to review the
video before purchase.

