The Meat Packing Industry

Paper Summary:

The paper discusses a report that asserts that the meat packing workforce, which consists of mainly immigrant workers, has to contend with treatment and conditions which violate their human rights. The paper describes the dangerous conditions faced by workers. The paper is of the opinion that that there needs to be more investigations into the rights of immigrants, especially those who work in dangerous job sites like slaughterhouses. The paper explains that English is a second language for immigrants and they do not have legal citizenship so they may not be able to push for their rights.

From the Paper:

"Gonzalez begins her article by quoting the Human Rights Watch report as claiming the U.S. "is failing to protect that [meatpacking] labor force." And in her second paragraph, Gonzalez is quick to balance her story by quoting "a meat industry official" - J. Patrick Boyle of the American Meat Institute - who claimed the report was "way off mark" and that it would need as many pages as it originally presented (175) to correct "the falsehoods and baseless claims" in the report."
"That statement by Boyle certainly sounds like an exaggeration, and coming from a bureaucrat whose job it is to lobby Congress and to spin the story in favor of the meat industry, it is not surprising. But when one realizes how horrifyingly dangerous it is to work around very sharp knives and be expected to work very fast, it makes Boyle's statement seem ridiculous."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Gonzalez, Cindy. 2005. Group Criticizes Packers: Meat Industry Officials Dismiss Human Rights Watch Report Recommendations. Omaha World-Herald, January 26, 2005, pg. 01.B.
• Human Rights Watch. 2005. Blood, Sweat, and Fear: Workers' Rights in U.S. Meat and PoultryPlants. http://www.hrw.org (accessed July 6, 2006).
• Walton, Don, and Duggan, Joe. 2005. Report Criticizes Meatpacking Industry. Lincoln Journal, January 27, 2005, http://www.agribusinesscenter.org/headlines.cfm?id=747 (accessed July 6, 2006).

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