Tyson Foods Worker Dies From Willful Negligence
I bet they saved a few pretty pennies on this:
Little Rock--Tyson Foods and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are actively fighting workplace safety measures that could have prevented the tragic death of a Tyson Foods worker, said Reverend Steve Copley today.
On Friday, a U.S. District Court in Arkansas ruled that Tyson Foods Inc. must pay a $500,000 fine for "willfully" violating workplace safety regulations that led to the 2003 death of Jason Kelley, a maintenance worker at its River Valley Animal Foods plant in Texarkana. Mr. Kelley was killed by toxic fumes emitted from a machine he was repairing. ...
As that post from the SEIU goes on to point out, union workplaces are safer workplaces. They're workplaces where safety training is more likely to be offered and federal safety requirements followed. Workers in union workplaces are more likely to receive injury compensation and less likely to face employer retaliation.
Yet the food industry, from the restaurant sector to the major processors, has fought unionization, minimum wage increases, and any increases in protections for workers. In much the same way that they've long opposed meaningful food safety regulation, they don't give a tinker's damn about their workers' quality of life.
Consider the National Grocers Association. This message is up on the front page of their website right now, in the full red and pink glory of its original formatting:
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Immediate Action Required!
Help Defeat the union backed “Employee Free Choice Act” |
| Employee Free Choice Act Introduced in House and Senate H.R.1409 & S. 560, the undemocratic Employee Free Choice Act, have been introduced in Congress. The House bill contains 223 co-sponsors—seven fewer than when the bill was last introduced in 2007, while the Senate bill contains 40 co-sponsors—6 fewer than in 2007. If it passes President Obama has committed to signing the Employee Free Choice Act into law.
ACTION REQUIRED: N.G.A. members are urged to contact their Representatives and Senators and urge them NOT to cosponsor and to vote NO on this legislation.
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Maybe that action alert should read like this, instead:
Immediate Action Required
Help keep your employees' from insisting on living wages and proper safety precautions in the workplace!
See? Much more accurate. But food companies are no respecters of truth in labeling.
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