Mbita Sikazwe
Professor C. Jason Smith
ENG 101
9 December 2013
Imagine you wake up in a country thousands of
miles away from home and you have to go to work and you have no idea on how to
perform the tasks you'll be asked to perform and you won't understand a word of
what you are been told, unfortunately this is the reality for thousands of
people coming to the United States to work on industrial farms. There are
approximately 800, 000 employees on industrial farms, working grueling twelve
hour shifts so they can manage to feed their families and stay in the United
States. Working on an industrial farm can be considered one of the most
dangerous jobs and physical demanding, with possibly the worst income and
working conditions. The industry consists mostly of full-time workers, a lot of
which are immigrants from Mexico and the Latin Americas. Industrial farms account
for 99% of the animals America consumes. Without industrial farm workers we wouldn't
have any meats. The industry exploits its workers in every way they can. It's
time we start looking out for the people who provide food for all three hundred
million of us.
Working on a factory farm is arguably the most
dangerous and demanding jobs in the United States. Every day that the workers
go to work they put their health at risk. There 800,000 people going to work on
these farms daily, putting their health on line for a pennies worth of a salary
compared to the profits their employers make. The workers inhale harmful gases,
which they should never be exposed to, on a daily basis. They also experience
repetitive stress injuries because they perform the same tasks for a full
shift, thus stressing the muscles they are using constantly. The price the
workers have to pay for working in those conditions is unfathomable. They
experience long-lasting aches, respiratory disorders, cardiovascular
complications, and sadly premature death. Most of the workers are unaware of
the long-term effects of working on a factory farm, and they also accept it for
what it's because for most of them this is their way of staying in the United
States and supporting their families. Unlike industrial farms, subsidiary farms
have far better working conditions and wages, it's time that the employers
start been held accountable for the mistreatment of the employees and not
providing a safe working environment.
A
vast majority of the workers on industrial farms are African Americans and
immigrants from Mexico and the Latin Americas, who are unable to speak English.
It's one of the main reasons why they are unable to ask for better working
conditions and better pay. Many of the workers are immigrants who recently
migrated to the United States through the H-2A work program. The H-2A work
program is the only way they can live the poor living standards in the
countries they come from. The employers are aware that these immigrants will do
everything say and they exploit them in unimaginable ways. There's also a good
portion of them that don't have documents to be living and working in the
United States, therefore the employers no that they won't protest against poor
working conditions and poor wages. As for the immigrants who are in the United
States on the H-2A program they know that they can easily be replaced, so they
try not to voice any grievances because they know if they do anything that the
employers don't like their papers won't be renewed, which will lead to them
going back to the unbearable conditions they left. To make matters worse the
workers often feel left out in their communities because of the language
barrier. Somebody needs to stand up for factory farm workers because unlike
people in other fields of work they have no assurance to keep their job if they
are "inefficient, let alone protesting their wages and working conditions.
Industrial Farming, like many other industries
in the United States, is a competitive driven industry, which causes the
employers to neither have regard of the working conditions or wages the workers
receive. The only two things that take precedence in the industry are
efficiency and profits. The employers know that they can easily replace anyone
who doesn't want to do what they are told. It's gotten to the point where
employers have Hitler-like control over their employees. Lorenzo Salgado, a man
who worked on dairy farm was interviewed about his experience of working on an
Industrial Farm. He says he was kicked by a cow he was milking, and because of
the impact he broke a disc in his back. He said, '' I started to black out and
urinate and when I told my boss he said if I didn't want to work, they were
plenty of others who would." This happens to hundreds of employees every
day; they are talked down on and told they are worthless. Even when they
experience a life-threating injury the employers still have the gall to tell
them to work or they will be fired. This kind of inhumane treatment is
unacceptable and no one should have to go through it no matter what kind of job
it is. Another man who worked on an
industrial farm experienced similar treatment. Juan Carillo stated in an
interview that he wasn't paid overtime and only had a day off in a week. He
also said, "If I was sick my boss had to pay me 50 dollars but he made
sign a contract saying that I would pay a fine of 50 dollars a day if I missed
a day." I find it absurd that the workers have to go through this kind of
treatment on a daily basis. This is also an example of how the workers are
exploited because the employees know they have no choice. A lot of the
exploitation happens because the workers are unaware of their rights. Federal
and State Agencies need to put laws to eliminate all the abusive behavior and
make sure the workers are provided with safe working environments, and not to
be treated like they are the animals.
Particulate Matter, Ammonia, and Hydrogen
Sulfide are the most dangerous and common gasses the industrial farm workers
are exposed to. Workers inhale particulate matter when they come in contact
with dry fecal matter, feed, animal dander, feathers, fungi, dry soil, and
bacterial endotoxins. Workers are at a high risk of inhaling these forms of
particulate matter when they are moving animals from one chamber to another or
when they are packing them. The symptoms workers incur as a result of coming in
contact with the particulate matter are permanent respiratory disorders,
heightened asthma, cardiovascular complications, and premature death. Ammonia
is another gas that workers are exposed to a lot. It does oust in large volumes
from piles of manure and urine that accumulate on the farm. The Occupational
Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) allow the employers to get away with a
lot violations because they think that if profits keep increasing then
everything’s perfect on the farms. Conducted research has shown that if your
exposed to ammonia as low as 6 points per million (ppm) you can have eye
irritation, temporary blindness, and respiratory problems. But the OSHA allows
for there to be 50ppm in a workplace. It’s hard to understand how even the
OSHA, who’s supposed to make sure the workers have a safe working environment,
is oblivious to the health of the workers. Hydrogen Sulfide is primarily found
in liquid manure. If exposed to it constantly it can lead to dry skin, eye
irritation, nausea, low blood pressure, headaches, and long lasting coughs. Workers at subsidiary farms aren’t exposed to
these kinds of gasses because they are provided with the necessary equipment to
diminish the exposure or completely take it away. Employers should provide the
necessary equipment to limit or take away any chance of the workers been
exposed to these gasses.
Without industrial farm workers none of our
favorite fast foods would exist, nor would we have any poultry or meats.
Industrial farms account for 99% of the animal products Americans consume.
Industrial Farm Owners make millions of dollars annually, yet they abuse and
torment the people who are largely responsible for their profits. Higher
production and higher profits are the only two precedents of the Industry; the
well-being of the workers doesn’t even exist to the owners. There are ways we
can start looking out for the people who make it possible for us to eat the
food we eat. We can buy food from organic farms or farms that support fair
labor practices. If you can afford rather than make the careless owners richer,
you can buy Fair Trade and Rainforest Alliance products, because the farms that
sell products give the workers good conditions and fair pay. We can also food
with the United Farm Workers label with certifies that the workers were paid
and treated fairly wherever the product originated from. It’s time to take action
against the narcissistic, greedy, disgusting, inhumane farm owners.
Works Cited Page
“ California Dairy Workers Face Danger and Abuse.”
Dollars&Sense. R.M. Arietta. 2004. Web. http://www.dollarsandsense.org/archives/2004/0904arrieta.html
