A federal appeals court weighed in on an ongoing lawsuit this week by painting a disturbing picture of life for migrant workers at one of the nation’s largest slaughterhouses.
The suit, brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, accuses Koch Foods, a major poultry processor that slaughters more than half a billion chickens every year, of tolerating flagrant acts of race and gender discrimination, labor violations, and sexual assault at its Morton, Mississippi plant.
The lawsuit claims that “Koch supervisors allegedly groped female workers, and in some cases assaulted them more violently; offered female workers money or promotions for sex; made sexist and racist comments; punched, elbowed, and otherwise physically abused workers of both sexes; and demanded money from them in exchange for permission for bathroom breaks, sick leave, and transfers to other positions.
According to the EEOC, when workers complained, Koch managers retaliated by docking workers’ pay, demoting, reassigning, or firing them, and threatening to physically harm them or have them arrested or deported.
Abuse and mistreatment appear to be business as usual at Koch Foods. In 2014, Mercy For Animals conducted undercover investigations of two Koch Foods “broiler chicken facilities and documented workers violently slamming birds into transport crates and breaking their wings and legs, chickens cut open while still conscious and breathing, and birds scalded alive in hot water tanks.
Watch the undercover footage here:
This is not the first time that factory farm workers have made claims about abusive and illegal conditions. An Oxfam report released in May revealed how employees at major chicken processors like Tyson and Pilgrim’s Pride are routinely denied bathroom breaks, forcing some to wear adult diapers as they work. Also, last year a major battery cage egg facility in Ohio was named in connection with a human trafficking ring. According to an indictment filed by the Department of Justice, children as young as 14 were trafficked from Guatemala and forced to work grueling manual labor jobs at Trillium Farms for up to 12 hours a day, six to seven days a week, under the threat of violence against them and their families back home.
Although the EEOC case is still ongoing, we can all take a stand against the egregious abuse of animals and workers by refusing to pay for it. Click here to find out how.
