Blood, Sweat, and Fear Workers’ Rights in U.S. Meat and Poultry Plants
	"But workers [in the meat and poultry industry] ... contend with conditions, vulnerabilities, and abuses which violate human rights." - Human Rights Watch Report, January 2005

Acknowledgements

I. Summary

Findings and Recommendations

Workplace Health and Safety and Workers’ Compensation

Freedom of Association

Protection of Rights of Immigrant Workers

Scope and Methodology of the Report

II. Historical Background

Meat

Gaining Ground

Sliding Back

From Little Chicken to Big Chicken

Meat and Chicken Combined

Bringing in the Third World

III. International Law: Workers’ Human Rights, Government Obligations, and Corporate Responsibility

Human Rights Instruments and U.S. Obligations

ILO Norms, the 1998 Core Labor Standards Declaration, and U.S. Obligations

U.S. Commitments on Labor Rights and Trade

Corporations and Human Rights

IV. Worker Health and Safety in the Meat and Poultry Industry

International Human Rights Standards and U.S. Law

Meat and Poultry Industry Dangers

Part of the Operating System

Why Is It So Dangerous?

Line Speed

Close-Quarters Cutting

Heavy Lifting

Sullied Work Conditions

Long Hours

Inadequate Training and Equipment

The Struggle over an Ergonomics Standard

Underreporting of Injuries

Government Records and Industry Manipulation of Injury Reports

V. Workers’ Compensation in the Meat and Poultry Industry

International Human Rights Standards and U.S. Law

Failures of the Workers’ Compensation System in the Meat and Poultry Industry

The Role of On-Site Medical Clinics

Self-Insurance

Workers’ Compensation and Short-Term Disability (STD)

Fear of Job Loss

Company-Selected Doctors

VI. Freedom of Association in the Meat and Poultry Industry

International Human Rights Standards and U.S. Law

Workers’ Freedom of Association in the Poultry Industry

An Insight into Employers’ View of Workers’ Association

Workers’ Freedom of Association in Tyson Meat Plants

Jefferson, Wisconsin

Pasco, Washington

Worker Organizing at Nebraska Beef

Worker Organizing at Smithfield Foods

An Election in 1997 and its Aftermath

A Supervisor Speaks Out

Pressure Continues

Smithfield’s Use of Police

The 1997 Election

Now: Special Police Status

VII. Immigrant Workers in the Meat and Poultry Industry

International Human Rights Standards and U.S. Law

Increasing Immigration in Meat and Poultry Plants

Effects on Workers’ Rights

Immigrant Workers and Organizing at Nebraska Beef

Immigrant Workers and Organizing at Smithfield Foods

Fear among Legal Workers

VIII. The Impact of Hoffman Plastic on Workers’ Rights

International Human Rights Rulings

IX. Recommendations

To the Administration

To Congress

To the Administration and Congress

To State Governments

To the Meat and Poultry Companies

   Appendix A: The Production Process in Meat and Poultry Plants

Meat Plants

Poultry Plants

   Appendix B: Human Rights Standards on Workers’ Health and Safety, Workers’ Compensation

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

ILO Convention No. 121: Employment Injury Benefits Convention (1964)

ILO Convention No. 130: Medical Care and Sickness Benefits (1969)

ILO Convention No. 155: Occupational Safety and Health Convention (1981)

ILO Protocol 155 Protocol to the Occupational Safety and Health Convention (2002)

ILO Convention No. 161: Occupational Health Services (1985)

United States Commitments in North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation

   Appendix C: Human Rights Standards on Freedom of Association

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

ILO Convention No. 87: Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise (1948)

ILO Convention No. 98: Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining (1949)

United States Commitments in North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation

   Appendix D: Human Rights Standards on Migrant Workers

International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (1990)

ILO Convention No. 97: Migration for Employment Convention (1949)

Annex I

ILO Convention No. 143 Migrant Workers Convention (1975)

Inter-American Court of Human Rights

ILO Committee on Freedom of Association

United States Commitments in North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation

   Appendix E: Tyson Trial Transcript

   Appendix F: Injury Interviews and Data

Analysis of Injuries and Workers Compensation from Interviews

   Appendix G: Nebraska’s Meatpacking Workers Bill of Rights

   Appendix H: Nebraska Non-English Speaking Workers Protection Act

   ISBN: 1-56432-330-7   January 2005