Via FlickrHey, feel like being horrified and utterly despairing of the belief that human decency exists today? Well, tough, 'cause now you're gonna be. A new, unbelievably awful report from Oxfam sketches out just how bad labor conditions are in America for poultry workers. Oh, you thought only
Has anyone else mentioned the Bones episode where they investigated the death of a floor manager at a chicken farming factory called Cluckson's? He had this weird-ass disorder that was actually slowly making him LOOK like a fucking chicken. The factory smelled so damn bad that people were getting sick. They were being protested. Bones and Booth got blood thrown on them. Spoilers, it was the security guard who did it. Because his wife got sick and she was pregnant, so he moved her out of town, and she got better. All he wanted was a gas allowance so his wife could live out of chicken-fume range, and he could still work for them. But he didn't get it, so he shoved the guy's face into a chicken plucker and it snapped his neck. Farming factories are nasty little hellholes, and not just for the animals.
As the Texan said to the counterman in the NYC Jewish deli; "Sir, that's the best soup I've ever tasted..... Tell me, are there any other parts of the matzoh y'all serve?"
As stockholders screamAbout profit that's lostOn making sure workersCan pee at no costAnd you weep at the marginsAs things groweth direMy advice to you, Koch:Just die in a fire
I toured one of those too, and I couldn't see any really bad working conditions for the people. (Granted, I only got a very superficial and brief look.)
The hens, on the other hand...in cages stacked one atop another, with barely enough room to move, above a lagoon of their own shit, with nothing to do but eat and poop out eggs onto a ramp...let's just say that I wouldn't wish anything worse for, say, Hitler than to be reincarnated as one of those hens.
The good news is that cage-free eggs are taking hold, as more and more restaurants and grocers declare that those are the only kind they will carry. The bad news is that a lot of big egg producers are gaming the system with "cage free" eggs that involve opening a door to the chicken coop onto a few square yards of dirt.
This is why I don't oppose either unions or checks on unions. Whenever any group on one side gets too big, it abuses its power. The struggle between opposing sides is the closest thing we've got to being fair. Sure, some unions get ridiculous, but every time someone bitches about this union or that (the UAW and various entertainment guilds come to mind), I think of the Triangle Shirt Co., and things like this. Companies care about money, and if you don't watch them, they'll kill their employees to make it.
I swear I knew these guys. No, really. That was my neck of the woods around that time. It's so hard to get people who haven't seen it to believe the level of poverty in the rural south - dirt floors, no shoes, no teeth. A relative of mine was a social worker, and thanks to the Welfare to Work program under Clinton, her main job was trying to convince illiterate women whose families had been on welfare since the 60's that working as a chicken catcher was better than welfare. There was this one woman who had tried that, but she was too small, so she LOST A FUCKING EYE BEING MAULED BY CHICKENS.
She still had to go back to the plant. It was the only available job for miles, and we can't have tiny illiterate one-eyed hillbillies thinking they deserve to be able to meet their own basic needs just by being a citizen, like some kind of welfare queens.
trickle down economics in the workplace in action.
Has anyone else mentioned the Bones episode where they investigated the death of a floor manager at a chicken farming factory called Cluckson's? He had this weird-ass disorder that was actually slowly making him LOOK like a fucking chicken. The factory smelled so damn bad that people were getting sick. They were being protested. Bones and Booth got blood thrown on them. Spoilers, it was the security guard who did it. Because his wife got sick and she was pregnant, so he moved her out of town, and she got better. All he wanted was a gas allowance so his wife could live out of chicken-fume range, and he could still work for them. But he didn't get it, so he shoved the guy's face into a chicken plucker and it snapped his neck. Farming factories are nasty little hellholes, and not just for the animals.
Seitan is made from wheat gluten, not tofu. It's somewhat less disgusting than tofu.
As the Texan said to the counterman in the NYC Jewish deli; "Sir, that's the best soup I've ever tasted..... Tell me, are there any other parts of the matzoh y'all serve?"
As stockholders screamAbout profit that's lostOn making sure workersCan pee at no costAnd you weep at the marginsAs things groweth direMy advice to you, Koch:Just die in a fire
Egg farms. Just as bad.
Arrested for priorsBig fucking liar Gimble and gyreConscience for hire
Typical left-wing pundit.
Oh! I thought you were talking to me, sir. Mister Wensleydale, that's my name.
Any useful information you can share with the forces of good?
I did the math once and estimated that if income es proportional to work, the average CEO would have to consume his weight in martinis every two days.
Specifics? No, that's a good way to get fired. Trust me, the attitude is fairly common.
I toured one of those too, and I couldn't see any really bad working conditions for the people. (Granted, I only got a very superficial and brief look.)
The hens, on the other hand...in cages stacked one atop another, with barely enough room to move, above a lagoon of their own shit, with nothing to do but eat and poop out eggs onto a ramp...let's just say that I wouldn't wish anything worse for, say, Hitler than to be reincarnated as one of those hens.
The good news is that cage-free eggs are taking hold, as more and more restaurants and grocers declare that those are the only kind they will carry. The bad news is that a lot of big egg producers are gaming the system with "cage free" eggs that involve opening a door to the chicken coop onto a few square yards of dirt.
This is why I don't oppose either unions or checks on unions. Whenever any group on one side gets too big, it abuses its power. The struggle between opposing sides is the closest thing we've got to being fair. Sure, some unions get ridiculous, but every time someone bitches about this union or that (the UAW and various entertainment guilds come to mind), I think of the Triangle Shirt Co., and things like this. Companies care about money, and if you don't watch them, they'll kill their employees to make it.
* cold stare *
Gorgonzola?
I swear I knew these guys. No, really. That was my neck of the woods around that time. It's so hard to get people who haven't seen it to believe the level of poverty in the rural south - dirt floors, no shoes, no teeth. A relative of mine was a social worker, and thanks to the Welfare to Work program under Clinton, her main job was trying to convince illiterate women whose families had been on welfare since the 60's that working as a chicken catcher was better than welfare. There was this one woman who had tried that, but she was too small, so she LOST A FUCKING EYE BEING MAULED BY CHICKENS.
She still had to go back to the plant. It was the only available job for miles, and we can't have tiny illiterate one-eyed hillbillies thinking they deserve to be able to meet their own basic needs just by being a citizen, like some kind of welfare queens.
Ugh, I'm sad now.