Omaha NE October 7, 2009 - Meatpacking remains “one of the most dangerous jobs in America,” according to a Lincoln nonprofit group, citing its survey in which packinghouse workers reported higher injury rates than official statistics.

Of 455 workers surveyed, 62 percent reported being injured in the previous year, according to the Appleseed Center for Law in the Public Interest.

That's more than seven times the injury rate for the occupation in federal labor reports, which don't count many minor injuries.

Appleseed, whose mission is to work on social justice issues, said in a draft report of its survey that injuries are underreported to the government because of workers' fear of reporting, supervisors' failure to report and faulty diagnosis at plant-operated medical clinics.

The draft report also said individuals in the survey told of being shouted at by supervisors, sexually harassed and treated with disrespect, including having to urinate in their pants because they weren't allowed a bathroom break.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. meatpacking industry said worker safety in the industry has improved dramatically, with an injury rate only slightly higher than for all private industries. She said allegations of mistreating workers don't make sense.

“Before we tackled this problem, our record was not what it is today,” said Janet Riley of the American Meat Institute in Washington, D.C. “They're using old stereotypes. We benefit by ensuring safety. If we were operating in the manners they are alleging, why would the illness and injury rate go down every year?”

She said federal inspectors closely supervise meatpacking plants.

“We rely on our workers to produce quality product and to satisfy the customers' desires,” Riley said. “There's absolutely no benefit in behaving the way they are alleging.”

Appleseed said in the report that it surveyed people who worked in eight packing plants in five Nebraska communities in 2007 and 2008. It does not name the companies or the communities. Most of those surveyed were from other countries, including 140 from Mexico, 76 from Guatemala and 34 from El Salvador.

The report did not address whether the respondents were in the country illegally.

All workers, “native born or immigrant, documented or undocumented,” deserve basic human rights in the workplace, Appleseed said, adding that “a workable immigration system ... would significantly reduce mistreatment of immigrant workers.”

The report said 7 percent of the workers in the survey said injuries at their plant had decreased over the past year, 59 percent said injuries were the same, 30 percent said injuries had increased somewhat and 4 percent said injuries had increased a lot.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported an injury rate of 8.4 per 100 meatpacking workers in 2007, but such figures do not include some minor injuries such as a slight cut on the finger.

Appleseed said the surveyed workers who cited safety problems said worker shortages and the speed of the production line were causes. While federal inspectors monitor production speed to ensure food safety, the report said, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration does not regulate line speed to ensure worker safety.

The survey asked open-ended questions about how workers were treated, and it counted more than 500 instances of abusive supervision, bullying, ethnic or sexual harassment, “petty tyranny” and other abuses, including 250 instances of “generalized workplace abuse.”

Riley said the meatpacking plants in general want to treat their workers well to reduce turnover.

“Can I say that nobody has every yelled at a meakpacking worker? No, I can't say that. But to say this is the norm, that's not right,” she said.

The survey also queried workers about training, workers' compensation, union organization, and the state's “bill of rights” for packinghouse workers.

Among other recommendations, Appleseed recommended giving each worker a copy of state laws on meatpackers' rights, adding state employees to enforce the law, training supervisors on how to treat workers, decreasing the speed of packing plant work and more closely supervising adherence to safety rules.

Contact the writer:

444-1080, steve.jordon@owh.com

The Omaha World