By Kristance Harlow
December 16, 2006
Medical Anthropology
Mount Holyoke College
Health disparities disproportionately affect undocumented Hispanic workers in the poultry industry. Poultry producers have acted in the opposite way of many other industries, instead of outsourcing their plants for cheap labor, they have brought cheap labor to them. Poultry industries have been charged with smuggling illegal immigrants across the border. Once they have these cheap labor workers they exploit them and put the blame of illegal immigration onto the workers’ shoulders. Low-wages, grueling work schedules and a lack of resources for living in their new environment all contribute to the poor health of undocumented poultry workers.
Employers know that most of their immigrant population use aliases to work under. Employers use this to their advantage. When Social Security Numbers do not match up, the Social Security Administration sends out letters informing employers of the mismatch. The employer is supposed to give the letter to the employee and let them sort it out. At a Mississippi Peco Foods plant the supervisor used these letters to intimidate the workers. The employer tried to get the employees to admit that they had bought Social Security Numbers by offering to sell them new ones. If they admit it to the boss would have to fire them and contact the authorities. What often happens with this intimidation tactic is that the employer will fire the worker but not contact immigration services; then the worker is forced to reenter the workplace at a starting wage (Cobb). Employers abuse their right to be involved in the immigration status of their workers. To reduce this kind of exploitation and intimidation federal immigration reform must reduce the ability for an employer to be involved, the burden must rest on the shoulders of the federal immigration authorities (Immigrant).
There are some health care providers who will sign notes declaring the health of the patient under their alias names and others will not. Workers travel long distances just to find a doctor who will sign their papers. Most health departments that refuse to sign for aliases do so for legal reasons. The worker and/or the health care provider could be charged with fraud for using a false name. The confusion in names can make it difficult to care for patients. Patient charts and files are not accurate because of the changing aliases. It creates confusion about patient history and increases the chance of diagnostic errors. Health care providers are learning ways to lessen the chaos by combining charts and keeping all aliases under a single file (Cuadros Workers).
Obtaining sick leave is extremely difficult for undocumented workers, even when they can get a doctor to sign their forms. Maria, a poultry worker, had to work until she was eight months pregnant and had to return to work only two months after giving birth. Many mothers return before their maternity leave is up, such was the case for Maria; she came back to work early because “the company only paid 60 percent of her salary” and she had to pay the bills. Workers avoid taking time off to go to the doctors for as long as possible, often delaying important diagnoses and hindering treatment. When someone is forced to take time off he or she will go without income while paying doctor’s bills. It’s an incredible dilemma; workers can’t afford to take time off because the income is vital to their sustainability, yet when time isn’t taken off health problems sometimes develop into serious or life-long disabilities. When one mother waited to take her daughter in for an ear infection her daughter developed hearing loss in the infected ear (Cuadros Workers).
When a poor immigrant needs to get to a hospital, very often the only way to get there is to ask for a ride from someone who lives near by. Many immigrant households don’t have a telephone, so there is no way to call for help and most women cannot drive. A few transportation services have been popping up in various areas. These rides are usually provided by the clinics, “a van…will pick clients up in the morning and then drop them off in the afternoon” (Cuadros Workers 15). These ride vans are a great resource for making and keeping appointments. But they don’t solve the issue of emergencies, like an expecting woman needing to get to the hospital to deliver a baby or a sudden illness or severe injury (Cuadros Workers).
Communication between health care providers and immigrants is a major problem. The Office for Civil Rights says federally funded health programs must provide interpreters at no cost to the patient. However, half of North Carolina’s health departments put the burden of communication onto the patient and do not provide translating services. Non-English speakers travel far to get a health care provider that offers translators, or they bring bilingual children to translate. “Any situation where a child is an interpreter is risky…They may not understand what’s going on or have the vocabulary to explain what the doctor is saying” (Cuadros Workers 3).
Using translators to communicate is not an ideal situation. There is no way to directly communicate when there is no common language. “Confusion can be a problem for both the patient and the doctor who are unable to connect” (Cuadros Workers 4). They have to rely on a translator and relationships are hard to establish that way. Even when translators are available and words can be interpreted there is a cultural element that is missed. They use language translators instead of cultural mediators who, instead of translating words, could communicate concepts between the health worker and the client (Cuadros Workers).
Many companies do not make an effort to make sure that their Spanish speaking employees get the memos. “Limited English proficiency may contribute directly to workplace fatalities” (Sokas 3). Laws in some states, like Nevada, require companies to make sure that safety and training programs are understood by all employees by presenting the information in a language the employee best understands (Sokas). Tyson Foods Company makes a lot of resources available on their website, including information for employees such as the Code of Conduct and the Team Member Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights has important information about worker rights and how to file grievances and make formal complaints. Although they employ 114,000 people, many of them no doubt Hispanic immigrants, none of these pertinent webpages are in Spanish. Nothing is in Spanish on the website except the Sustainability Report that talks about the Tyson’s progress in the ways of the environment, economy and social contributions (Corporate).
Tyson is not ignorant to the fact that it hires a huge number of Latino workers. In an Arkansas Tyson Job Center informational signs are posted in Spanish, letting the job seeker know that they need to bring their own interpreter. In the office the vast majority of job seekers are Spanish speaking individuals (Immigrant). The irony in that Arkansas office serves to illustrate the lack of knowledge that immigrant workers have about their work place. Tyson Foods, among other poultry producers uses the language barrier as a weapon for employee compliance.
In the fast paced and messy environment of poultry plants injuries are commonplace. Compared to the nationwide average of injury and illness, poultry workers experience it at twice the rate (Worker). A poultry worker’s job is extremely dangerous; the International Hazard’s Datasheet on the Occupation of a Poultry Farm Worker lists dangers such as toxic gasses, dust, dangerous chemicals and physically demanding work (International). Immigrants face these health threats more often than their domestic born counterparts because they are “more likely to be employed in the higher-risk and lower-wage sectors of the workforce” (Sokas 3).
One in five undocumented workers reported being injured in a university study and over half of them reported receiving under par medical care, and just over five percent received workers compensation. Employers intimidate and fire employees who seek compensation. They are able to keep low-paid illegal aliens in dangerous working positions because they can threaten to notify authorities of their illegal status, fire them and have them deported all without paying for medical bills or workers compensation. Some companies will pay for medical bills if the employee attends a “company recommended doctor” (Chandler 3). These doctors sometimes will withhold information and tell the patient they are fine when they are not (Chandler).
When an undocumented Mississippi poultry plant worker “slipped on a floor slick with chicken fat and landed hard, [he] suffer[ed] two fractures in his back and a spinal dislocation” (Chandler 3). The “company-recommended doctor” (Chandler 3) told him that he had no injury evident in his x-rays and he could return to work. His pain kept him in the break room and out of the work room; he wasn’t allowed to go home because that would mean that the company would have to recognize his injury. Eventually “an orthopedic specialist…examined the earlier x-rays and found…fractures, which required surgery” (Chandler 3). Because of the ‘slip up’ by the first doctor this worker had to switch from a $500 a week job to a less strenuous $300 a week job. Not all employers try to cheat their workers out of compensation rights. Benefits are sometimes denied by insurance companies. If an insurance company feels that a worker might be undocumented they grill the employer, digging for proof. Then, regardless of proof or not, employers are notified that the benefits are being denied because the insurance company suspects that that the worker is illegal. There are been many employers who have tried to deny benefits to illegal immigrants by fighting in court, these cases have almost always sided with the employee (Chandler).
There are “huge health and safety violations in every plant” (Parker 3). The Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) issues citations for such violations (Parker) but has a difficult time keeping on top of the large number of poultry plants. Only one percent of all factories are inspected yearly by the U.S. Department of Labor’s measly 2,300 inspectors (Chandler). Tyson was fined over $400,000 when a worker passed out from breathing in a dangerous gas caused by “decaying organic matter” (Parker 3). Such fines are hardly sufficient when the violations keep coming up again and again, and $400,000 is nothing to Tyson. One packing plant in Canada makes $700,000 a day while the CEO is being paid over $20 million a year (Tyson). The data reported by OSHA on workplace injury rates is lower than the real number of incidents (Survey).
With chicken fat greasing the floors of the factories it’s not surprising that workers slip and fall constantly. Juan, an undocumented poultry worker, was carrying improperly labeled cleaning liquids when he slipped. The dangerous chemical reaction and fumes that occurred when the cleaners mixed was nearly fatal. Now Juan has “blood in his urine, he can’t stand up for more than a few minutes without becoming dizzy, and he has headaches” (Cuadros Workers 13). Two months after the accident he still cannot work and has not received his injury benefits (Cuadros Workers).
The repetitive motion and non-stop pace of a poultry worker who processes an average of 144,000 birds a day (Worker) causes repetitive motion illnesses (Health) like carpel tunnel syndrome (Parker). Workplace conditions must be changed to stop these easily preventable disorders (Health). An unrealistic expectation is placed on these workers, and tactics of intimidation by threats of firing keeps workers from following the simplest doctor’s orders while in the plant (Cuadros Workers). Workers can encounter respiratory problems because of the dust they inhale. The most common respiratory ailment for poultry workers is acute bronchitis, followed with chronic bronchitis and occupational asthma (Choinere and Munroe).
The right to bathroom breaks must not be underestimated. Laws are in place that denote bathroom use as a right, not a privilege. OSHA created laws regulating bathroom facilities. Under OSHA law employers cannot restrict bathroom use unreasonably (Health). Imposing irrational regulations on bathroom use can have health consequences for employees. “Forced delay in defecation can lead to constipation, abdominal pain… and hemorrhoids” (Health 6). Bathrooms are another way for us to recognize the injustice that poultry workers experience. OSHA hands out citations to companies that fail to follow guidelines (Poultry).
There are countless stories of these laws being broken. Lopez, a worker at a Kotch Foods poultry plant, was working in the deboning line and tried to get permission to get off the line and use the bathroom. Her supervisor denied her request and insisted she keep working. “Sometimes she developed acute pain because she could not go” (Greenhouse 16). The supervisor handed his hard hat to her and told her to use that as a toilet and to keep on working (Greenhouse). It is reported that workers at some Tyson poultry plants wear diapers to work because bathroom breaks are not guaranteed. When one woman wasn’t allowed to take a bathroom break she urinated on herself and had to work, soaked in urine, until her shift was over. “Later [she] was disciplined for filing a complaint about what happened” (Tyson).
Reducing workplace injuries and illnesses will require an industry wide over hall. Along with upping the ante when it comes to punishing companies for safety violations, companies have to become positive motivators for workplace safety. Advocates have to work with poultry plants, “to build a culture of safety” (Policy 1) and worker input in determining a reasonable work environment is vital and a “job-rotation program….[would] increase job variety and reduce the incidence of injuries” (Policy 1).
The Hispanic population is susceptible “to other health troubles because of their living situations” (Cuadros Poultry 5). Such hazards include depression and anxiety attacks. Anxiety attacks are a particular problem for men; brought on from the stress of poultry working and the inability to fully provide for themselves and their families. Women are extremely at risk for depression. Their inability to drive or communicate with their English speaking neighbors causes them to really “lose their identity” (Cuadros Poultry 6). These women lack the support systems that they grew up with in their home countries (Cuadros Poultry).
The children of immigrant poultry workers have poorer health than their non-immigrant schoolmates. Their fetal development can be compromised by the dangerous chemicals that mothers encounter when working during pregnancy (Sakala). Most children do not get the benefit of being breast fed because there is no time to do so, plants don’t offer daycare services and so children are handed from friend to friend before their school years because the mother has to work (Cuadros Workers). The children are exposed to job hazards when their parents return from work, still reeking of toxic chemicals (Sakala), their healthcare is compromised by the parent’s inability to get to and pay for medical appointments (Cuadros Workers). Not to mention that the poultry industry exploits the labor of children. Because of its child exploitation Tyson has topped the list of worst companies by magazines such as the Multinational Monitor (Cobb). In 1998 a 15 year old boy died after being electrocuted while working in a poultry plant, that same year a 14 year old child received serious injuries after falling while working very late at night (Tyson).
When it comes to paying for medical care the first place immigrants turn is Medicaid. Medicaid is a state and federally funded health insurance program for low-income individuals. It’s administered voluntarily at the state level. The state programs are overseen and regulated by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), states follow the CMS guidelines when determining who is eligible and what services to offer. Although, most undocumented workers in the poultry industry fall within the income guidelines for Medicaid, many do not fulfill the other eligibility requirements. Within the low-income bracket, one must fall under the category of families, pregnant women, minors or disabled persons. Even if an undocumented worker fulfills those requirements their immigrant status can cause them to not receive any coverage. According to the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 immigrants must be a “qualified alien” (Centers) to receive Medicaid. Because these are undocumented workers, most cannot find ways to be eligible (Centers).
Loop holes do exist in the program; Medicaid allows all pregnant women to receive benefits under “presumptive eligibility” (Cuadros Workers 8). When Maria got pregnant she was able to obtain Medicaid coverage for the first two months of her pregnancy. The vast majority of Hispanic women under “presumptive eligibility” (Cuadros Workers 8) are undocumented; in 1999 ninety-six percent of these women were undocumented. While this is a benefit to women like Maria and health care providers, it burns holes in the pockets of community health programs and county health departments. Once Medicaid drops Maria from their program it is the smaller community health programs that will help her fund later medical care. To try and offset costs some clinicians hold billing until a woman is in need of more expensive medical treatment, such as an ultrasound in the hospital or the last two months of pregnancy when the woman comes in weekly for check-ups. While private health care providers can bill their low-income patients on a sliding scale, no such scale exists in the hospital. Some clinics are slow to give service to undocumented workers because of this, a sliding scale sometimes means that the clinic is losing money to care for these patients. Newborns automatically qualify for Medicaid for 13 months, but many do not stay on because parents do not reapply (Cuadros Workers).
Medicaid is not the only option for immigrants who are looking for healthcare insurance. Some poultry plants offer health insurance to employees. This is great because it eases the burden on the smaller health programs and gives workers insurance but it is also bad because most illegal aliens do not work under their legal name. It’s impossible to use that insurance because “(the insurance company[ies]) could get [them] for fraud” (Cuadros Workers). The Migrant Health Program is a federally funded initiative aimed at helping pay for migrant healthcare (Holmes). The program funds clinics that specifically care for migrant workers and their dependents. Funds are given in the forms of grants on a yearly basis. With an overall budget of $140 million, this program falls short of providing care to all of those in need, (Migrant) only 13% of the people who should be taken care of by the Migrant Health Program actually are (Holmes).
Unions have always had a place in the poultry industry; they have made huge contributions to workers rights and allow for co-worker organization and formal movements (Greenhouse). The increase of undocumented Hispanic workers in the poultry industry has not been handled well by unions. They’ve had a history of working against undocumented workers, (Breitbach) holding the misconception that these workers are taking jobs from legal residents. Union regulations have prevented immigrants from making a contribution. In a Peco Foods plant in Mississippi, workers were required to be employed for 90 days before they could join the union. Eventually it came to the union’s attention that Peco was firing immigrant workers after exactly 90 days (Cobb). In order to maximize the effectiveness of unions, all workers must be accounted for because they are all affected by the employer’s decisions.
A formal report and study on the meat industry found that “government laws, regulations, policies and enforcement fail to sufficiently protect meat and poultry workers’ health and safety at work and their right to compensation when they are hurt” (Immigrant, 2). The ineffectiveness of policy is evident when the policies of companies are juxtaposed with lawsuits, grievances and countless stories of injustice. Tyson’s Bill of Rights guarantees the right to a safe work environment, freedom from prejudice, pay for all work, right to information and the right to understand that information (Corporate). It is obvious that Tyson does not carry out its promises.
Most policy guidelines focus their attention to “on-the-job exposures and injuries” (Sakala, 661) without taking into account family members and out of work problems that are a direct result of poor working conditions and low wages. If occupational health wants to improve the conditions of the workers they have to look at and address all the ways that the job affects a worker’s life (Sakala). Basic changes must take place, such as enforcing the laws that protect worker’s rights, but the plight of undocumented workers is a deeply entrenched issue that must be attacked at a structural level. Although such changes will improve their situations, it will not solve the problems.
Solutions at the level of policy will not be effective as long as systems of bribery and greed continue to be in control. Poultry industries break the law by giving exuberant gifts to policy makers in exchange for the unofficial promise of having those policy makers campaign on their behalf (Tyson). A change in what political party is in control has no effect on the poultry industry. Tyson has given extreme financial support to both George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. While there have been inquiries into the legality of Tyson’s actions, (Barboza) these investigations barely skim the surface of corruption. The only real measure taken against Tyson has been to make them pay fines, (Tyson) which does nothing to prevent the political swing that occurs with those generous gifts.
What is even more disturbing than the contributions to politicians, or perhaps it is intertwined into this politicized environment, is that several poultry producers had to pay fines because they violated a US trade embargo against Iraq by smuggling thousands of dollars worth of chicken across the border. Tyson, alone, shipped $250,000 worth of chicken and only had to pay $150,000 in fines (Profile). The lack of outrage over this is not surprising; it is all a part of a corrupt system that allows those with money to do as they please, as long as they financially please those in power.
Charity as a means of supporting impoverished poultry workers seems like a noble idea. Churches have been at the forefront of providing such services. Their contributions have been well received and are important, without these charities many of the workers would go without affordable healthcare, housing and child-care services. The problem is that the churches do not question why the workers need help in the first place. Without challenging the systems in place the churches “become unwitting allies with the packers” (Ostendorf, 1) because what they are really doing is “help[ing] foot the packers’ bills by providing social-service ministry and community outreach” (Ostendorf, 1).
Many of the top poultry producers have charities for charities’ sake. Tyson Cares, for example, is a program aimed at helping society in various ways. Their subprogram, Hunger Relief, is an area of particular pride for Tyson. Various food donations have been made to “help the hungry” (Corporate). In October 2006 Tyson donated over 35,000 pounds of meat, a lot of it donated to Wilkesboro, North Carolina. The Christian Ministry celebrated Tyson’s generosity as “overwhelming” (Corporate).
Tyson is a major employer in Wilkes County. Of 29 Tyson services offered in 13 towns across North Carolina, Wilkes County offers 16 of these services in only 4 towns (Corporate). The residents of Wilkes County are not wealthy by any means. Almost half of the households make under $20,000 a year and one third make under $15,000 a year, the wages for the people of Wilkes “are below the state average” (Bumgarner, 1). With thousands of workers working for Tyson (Bumgarner) it’s quite the irony that Tyson advocates hunger relief to the people who fall victim to their low-paying jobs. Even Tyson’s website implies that Wilkes County is an area where many people “live on the edge of hunger because they lack sufficient resources for life’s necessities…the low wages…are not enough to cover the cost of [living]” (Corporate). Tyson’s charitable endeavors are superficial; meant only to entice customers to purchase their family-friendly products; they have no desire to make real social change. Tyson is not the only poultry company using charity as a means of pulling in customers. Pilgrim’s Pride gave food in the Katrina aftermath and Gold Kist gives scholarships.
Intimidation isn’t felt only by immigrant workers; the individual plant owners and communities where the plants are set up are exploited by the poultry industry. The industry buys their way into towns with promises of jobs, increased population and “an enhanced tax base” (Ostendorf), but social services are adversely affected and racial divide increases. There is ignorance within these packing communities similar to the ignorance of charitable church organizations. They welcome the positive but rarely question the downside (Ostendorf). If owners of a plant confront the poultry company contracts get canceled, “leaving farmers responsible for incurred debt” (Parker). In this way communities are pressured into allowing plants into their backyards and the plants are pressured into ill-treating their employees because they must please the company who pays the bills (Parker).
The plight of immigrants cannot be solved unilaterally, it is a “multi-ethnic process” with Hispanics coming from different countries and those who share the same nationality coming from different backgrounds and locations. Looking at the migration in a one-dimensional form causes all Latinos to be grouped together and racializes them. “The racialization process is closely linked to their locations in the labor market” (Fox). It affects how Americans view the immigrants; it defines them as low-income workers who do the work that ‘regular’ Americans don’t want to do. It is important for there to be a movement uniting all Hispanic workers but “self-representation” (Fox) and self-preservation are important pieces of such a movement. To individualize these workers and present them as unique people with unique experiences would allow these workers to reclaim their identity. Culture would not be lost in the chaos of the slaughter house but preserved in the integrity of the people. It would also cause a shift in the attitude and treatment they receive. By humanizing their experiences they can obtain compassion, support and understanding from those who previously saw them only as willing players in a corporate infrastructure.
Some critics argue that it is not only a structural problem but an issue that “arises from patriarchal attitudes” (Breitbach). Such sexual hierarchy insists that “objectification of other beings is a necessary part of life, and that violence can and should be masked” (Breitbach, 21). Poultry is produced and marketed in such ways; the violence of the poultry plants is never seen to an outsider and is hidden behind a framework of roasted chicken breast and family dinners. To expose the cruelty towards the animals and the workers would be to undermine society as we know it. This is why “the most societally vulnerable people are the ones” (Breitbach, 22) who carry out the bloody task of killing and breaking down the fowl (Breitbach).
Such an overhaul of American culture is not likely to happen immediately, but tangible changes can occur every day. A unified opposition to the poultry industry must take place. The people who are directly affected by abuses have to take a pro-active stance and demand real change’ those who have the knowledge have to make sure it is available to those who are in a position of vulnerability. English speaking co-workers must help their Spanish speaking counterparts understand their rights and responsibilities. Unions have to reach out to non-member co-workers and involve them in the decision making process, campaigning on their behalf. As long as one of us is being exploited, we all suffer.
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