Fast Food Nation Synthesis
Sarah Whitaker
Mrs. Kurtz
A.P. Language and Composition
6 February 2013
The Meatpacking Industry: One of the Most Dangerous Jobs in the U.S. A report from the American Meat Institute shows that the U.S. is home to about 6,000 meatpacking plants. Millions of jobs all over the country are made through meatpacking plants. These low paying, risky jobs are swept up by men and women, these people unknowing of what exactly they have gotten themselves into. The meatpacking, today, has become one of the most dangerous jobs in America. As found by Steven Greenhouse of the New York times, “…the nation’s meat packing industry has such bad working conditions that it violates basic human and worker rights.” Ever since the publication of the famous book by Upton Sainclair--The Jungle— people all over the world have found it necessary for inspections to be considered and for changes to be done with little success. Workers in today’s plants seem to have the same problems that were faced almost 100 years ago. The Appleseed Center For Law found an estimated “total of 62 percent of those interviewed said they had been injured on the job in the past year, a rate seven times higher than the government’s official statistic for slaughterhouse workers….”, as found in Reprt:Line Speed, Injuries Increase for Slaughterhouse Workers. So what happened to the much needed safety laws? It’s simple really, they just aren’t being followed. Many workers today, who live in horrible working conditions day by day to make their living for them and their families, are not being treated as they are meant to be and this has only made the industry bigger. One person quits or gets hurt and another is there, easily filling the new open position. Complaints don’t help either, as found by Gail Eisnitz, also cited in Reprt:Line Speed, Injuries Increase for Slaughterhouse Workers, “Slaughterhouse workers talk of a production system that moves to fast…despite numerous complaints to management—as
Mrs. Kurtz
A.P. Language and Composition
6 February 2013
The Meatpacking Industry: One of the Most Dangerous Jobs in the U.S. A report from the American Meat Institute shows that the U.S. is home to about 6,000 meatpacking plants. Millions of jobs all over the country are made through meatpacking plants. These low paying, risky jobs are swept up by men and women, these people unknowing of what exactly they have gotten themselves into. The meatpacking, today, has become one of the most dangerous jobs in America. As found by Steven Greenhouse of the New York times, “…the nation’s meat packing industry has such bad working conditions that it violates basic human and worker rights.” Ever since the publication of the famous book by Upton Sainclair--The Jungle— people all over the world have found it necessary for inspections to be considered and for changes to be done with little success. Workers in today’s plants seem to have the same problems that were faced almost 100 years ago. The Appleseed Center For Law found an estimated “total of 62 percent of those interviewed said they had been injured on the job in the past year, a rate seven times higher than the government’s official statistic for slaughterhouse workers….”, as found in Reprt:Line Speed, Injuries Increase for Slaughterhouse Workers. So what happened to the much needed safety laws? It’s simple really, they just aren’t being followed. Many workers today, who live in horrible working conditions day by day to make their living for them and their families, are not being treated as they are meant to be and this has only made the industry bigger. One person quits or gets hurt and another is there, easily filling the new open position. Complaints don’t help either, as found by Gail Eisnitz, also cited in Reprt:Line Speed, Injuries Increase for Slaughterhouse Workers, “Slaughterhouse workers talk of a production system that moves to fast…despite numerous complaints to management—as
Cited: "American Meat Institute." American Meat Institute. Web. 8 Mar. 2013. "Report: Line Speeds, Injuries Increase for Slaughterhouse Workers." Digging Through the Dirt, 8 Oct. 2009. Web. 27 Feb. 2013. Greenhouse, Steven. " Meat Packing Industry Criticized on Human Rights Grounds." The New York Times. The New York Times Company, 25 Jan. 2005. Web. 27 Feb. 2013. "Dangers, tensions lurk in meatpacking industry”. Associated Press. Breaking News & Top Stories World News, US & Local: NBC News, 24 Apr. 2006. Web. 27 Feb. 2013. "Safety and Health Guide for the Meatpacking Industry." Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Web. 27 Feb. 2013. Schlosser,Eric. Fast Food Nation. New York: Harper And Perennial,2005. Print.