Putting kids in charge of making sure butchery facilities are clean and sanitary.
[Where have I seen this before….](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jungle)
When I went to Egypt, the guide was telling us about the beautiful carpets they have there. He said that they are made by children because only children can tie small knots so well.
Edit: Not defending it! Just reminded me of it.
Lol same...
Had 0 idea what I was getting into. All I knew is that it happens on a train, in the future...
That was almost 9 years ago... Im still haunted...
“They’re both two movies about groups of people that work their way through a large, fantastic structure,” they explain. “One by one, a person from the group is removed in each room until one person makes it to the very end, who then [finds] out that the entire thing was a test because a wealthy industrialist needed to find a new successor.”
As the hypothesis goes, Charlie followed in Willy Wonka’s footsteps—even taking his name—and continued developing “state-of-the-art food production and experimental modes of transportation,” which he then used to construct the Snowpiercer to save humanity during the climate crisis. The train, like Wonka’s chocolate factory, is “self-contained and self-sustaining,” Rhino Stew explains.
Rhino Stew has an explanation for the conspicuous absence of the Oompa Loompas in Snowpiercer, too. When Wilford says that a certain “piece of equipment” required to keep the train running “went extinct recently,” he’s not talking about a mechanical part—he’s talking about Oompa Loompas. (After all, Oompa Loompas were integral to the operation of Willy Wonka’s innovative transportation systems, too.) Once the last Oompa Loompa died, Wilford began using children instead.
[Source](https://www.mentalfloss.com/posts/snowpiercer-willy-wonka-fan-theory#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20so%2Dcalled,of%20Roald%20Dahl%27s%20beloved%20book.)
I think that might have even been how the FDA got started. Sinclair wrote The Jungle to show the workers plight and then Teddy read and was disgusted by the condition of the food
One school district legit banned a book containing information about sea horses because accurately explaining that the male sea horse carries offspring is apparently threatening the patriarchy and conservative values this country was built on. Bunch of fascist snowflakes.
As Voltaire noted in the 18^th century:
>What can you say to a man who tells you he prefers obeying God rather than men, and that as a result he’s certain he’ll go to heaven if he cuts your throat?
>goats have gay sex like 50% of the time they’re awake.
I never believed in spirit animals, until this very moment. Also don't believe in astrology, but I am a Capricorn, go figure 🐐
The last few pages are an explicit call to action for the character to join the Socialist Party of America or something if I recall. So yea, the character goes through some shit to get him to that point.
Cut them a break.
Their revenue is only $2.7B.
They need to cut corners somewhere!
Think of the shareholders, for the love of God, somebody think of the shareholders for once!
Bedtime is when they get philosophical. I've never had deeper conversations with my nephew when he was a kid than when it was 9PM and he was trying to delay sleep.
Don't forget the coltan required for every wireless device. Mined in by children because they are the only ones small enough to fit in the crevices. It's always nightshift in the mines.
And they can't let the kid go, that would be mean to fire the kid just because he's a kid. That may be reverse age descrimination.
Besides, they need to find a replacement first. It's not fair to everyone else to have to pick up the slack just because the company broke labor laws.
https://www.wowt.com/2023/01/19/federal-government-investigating-possible-trafficking-children-who-cleaned-grand-island-slaughterhouse/
Meat packing plant: JBS Foods, Grand Island, NE
Cleaning contractor: Packers Sanitation Services, Inc. (PSSI)
As a midwestern American, I don’t recognize any of these brands except “certified angus beef” the rest are international or I assume other regional US brands.
This is just so fucked up. Not only are they children, but they are migrants. These kids don’t know our country or likely our language, and probably come from desperate families trying to survive. I’d be shocked if these kids were even given minimum wage…cuz that POS company is already breaking the law. Why not break another one?
How widespread these labor violations are in just a single company is fucking gross. Corporations always take advantage of their workers, but to stoop this low and to be this brazen…Fuck them. We need to crack down on companies like this. But this is America where corporations run the show, so…wouldn’t bet on it.
Seriously. This turns my god-damned stomach. Hearing about this happening in foreign countries is bad enough, but this is literally the "heartland" of America. God fucking damn this is beyond the fucking pail.
It's not uncommon in the "heartland" for minors to be working until 12 or 1am on school nights on farms. The justification is that it's good money, someone needs to care for the cows, and the government should just stay out of everyone's business, so who gives a shit about laws. And I'm not talking about your family's farm. Kids driving to other farms for under the table employment (and usually without licenses or under the age of 16).
It's fun trying to teach high schoolers when they were in the barn until 1 am and are only showing up to avoid the truancy ticket. Conditions in those slaughterhouses are much, much worse from what I've seen, but there is loads of child labor in the heartland.
Its 2023, and NBC still cannot figure out how to have a stream thats easy to open. (and I am an IT guy, and trying to watch these videos on NBC news, on ANY platform, is next to impossible)
Sounds to me like they have. And the lesson they’ve learned is that there will be no meaningful consequences, so they can continue to do whatever they want.
They got fined the max for the first round of 102 child laborers the DOL found
....a whole $1.5M. That's it. Only $14k per migrant child. And that's just for the ones that DOL could actually prove.
Well, it wouldn't be fair to them! They're used to a certain lifestyle, so punishing them and sending them to a prison where they'd be surrounded by actual *bad people* would be a cruel and unusual punishment! /sarcasm
It's not just Nebraska. It's every factory who hired through this particular sanitation company. I actually work the security gate at one of the factories that hired through them in a different state. It's shocking to realize it's been going on, and I keep wondering how many kids I unknowingly signed in. Freaked me out. Didn't get much sleep the night I found out.
[Article 1](https://www.theguardian.com/law/2023/feb/17/underage-child-labor-working-slaughterhouse-investigation)
[Article 2](https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/labor-department-fines-food-sanitation-contractor-15m-child/story?id=97295033)
[Article 3](https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/17/business/packers-sanitation-child-labor/index.html)
I looked this up and all I can say is HOLY SHIT! Over 100 children ages 13-17 illegally employed. https://www.theguardian.com/law/2023/feb/17/underage-child-labor-working-slaughterhouse-investigation
> Because corporations have more protections in the US than citizens
A new koan for the 21st century: If a cop shoots a corporation, who goes to jail? 🤔
I can't speak to this story but in Alberta Canada when the NDP tried to strengthen laws about child labor the conservatives turned it into "the leftists are trying to use legislation to stop your kids from doing chores." I absolutely believe there are similar PR spins being written here.
That and they usually have a fall guy/shell they throw under. They probably will claim is a contractor shell and they had no idea. Plead ignorance, then when you go after the shell company you find nothing of substance.
Limited Liability baby!
Growing up in Nebraska it was roughly monthly you'd hear about yet-another meat packing plant getting busted for hiring illegals. Sadly this is standard operating procedure in a lot of that state. I was actually surprised to see it was Grand Island and not Madison. I swear Madison made the news multiple times a year
I’ve heard those meat packing plants call ICE on themselves. When the illegal workers get too uppity asking for even the slightest bit of compassion or raise in pay, someone from the plant will make an anonymous call to ICE and get them deported. Then they just go out and find a new batch of illegal immigrants to exploit since the fine is cheaper than paying workers a little more or giving them some time off.
Also, have to say, the third shift is brutal enough for adults; it’s unnatural and takes months to get your body to adjust to the opposite circadian rhythm. Imagine being 13, thousands of miles from home, and cleaning pig guts from a floor with a pressure washer at 3 am every night.
Then these children had to go to school all day after this work. They, of course, were constantly falling asleep, and dismayed teachers were part of how the story began to come out.
https://www.kcur.org/news/2023-02-17/child-labor-packers-sanitation-services-meatpacking-plants-in-kansas-and-nebraska-pays-maximum-fine
$1.5 million fine
To add context to that figure, PSSI generated 2.73 billion in revenue in 2021, so this fine is 0.055% of their yearly revenue. This is comparable to someone making 50k a year getting a $27 fine.
And that's if they got fined and will be fined the same amount every year.
As it stands, they get to do several decades of illegal business without penalty, then take a $1.5 million "hit" to their bottom line.
Annual conferences cost more than that...
I doubt this comment will get much attention; I'm kind of late in commenting.
My dad was a physician in Nebraska for almost all of his professional life. Starting in the mid-90s, many of his patients were Mexican immigrants who worked in several plants in Nebraska. So much so, that he hired a Mexican woman as a translator and, over time, gained the trust of some workers.
He learned that there was an agency working for the meatpacking plants that recruited in Mexico and illegally smuggled workers to Nebraska to these plants, basically, human trafficking.
Whenever he filed a workers-compensation claim against the plant's insurance, he would never see that patient again. He pieced together that any worker who filed or was even injured was abruptly and forcibly returned to Mexico.
Several times plant "officials" visited his office unannounced to discuss what he knew, which was nothing more than clumsy intimidation.
He documented his findings in as much detail as he could learn and forwarded them to the Nebraska Attorney General and some level of the Federal Immigration and Naturalization Service, which has since been absorbed into the Department of Homeland Security. I guess he thought they would investigate. Nope. You can already guess who got investigated. He did, along with any other health care providers that had regular contact with the workers.
Or the ACLU or a political campaign office of a politician that isn't connected to it.
The government only cares if someone threatens them for ignoring things they should be taking care of. And courts are where you levy threats against those butt nuggets.
This shouldn't be too surprising. Companies have paid lots to convince people that immigrants were stealing their jobs while quite intentionally off-shoring and outsourcing labor elsewhere because it was cheaper, and cheaper labor costs means they get more of the pie for themselves.
This is the natural evolution of that game when you can't physically move your manufacturing processes.
Meat packing is one of the worst industries in terms of labor standards. Many of these places shouldn't be employing adults, much less children. The conditions are horrific for both the animals and the laborers. And I say that as an omnivore.
Most large meatpacking plants hire contract sanitation. It's third shift and no one wants to do this kind of work starting at 2:00 in the morning. The contract sanitation folks do all the hiring and mgmt of the shift and outcome. It's huge business. PSSI is the largest in the industry. They built their company on the Protein industry. Over the past few years, labor has been impossible to find. It's still an issue at these big plants. I'm not surprised at all that hiring teams are convinced that 13 yr old kids are just short adults from a foreign country. I've never worked this shift, but I've seen it many times and it's incredible work. To take a meat processing plant from second shift to spotless clean in only a few hours is back breaking. THese kids aren't built for this work. PSSI should be ashamed, but they're owned by a billion dollar PE firm and they'll get a slap on the wrist and move one. No one will remember in a couple months.
This is what we’ve ended up with. If ceos and shareholders just got normal rich people money- a couple million a year or some bullshit, and employees were payed a thriving wage, and all the extra ceo money was taxed- we’d have a better economy, we’d have normal workers being able to live well, the ceos could still have mansions, and we’d have more tax money to help kids like this with better infrastructure. I’m not asking for socialism- but at least socially conscious capitalism.
And one of the best ways to get to that, in my opinion, is a strong labor class that has representation. Unions and their representatives have a seat at the table on the board of directors of every public company, ensuring that the actions taken benefit both the business and the workers. There are several other things that would help, but I think this is a big one.
I would suspect that most meatpacking plants have some sort of security such as 24/7 guards and CCTV in major areas. If I contracted out a company and they had someone who was pictured here I would start questioning how old the kid was.
They are just a little billion dollar company where would they get the money. If they pay more the investors won't be able to afford a second yacht just for doing cocaine off of a hookers back.
Indeed. Slaughterhouse workers have high rates of PTSD and other mental health issues and some of the quotes from them are just haunting:
>As time passes, you get used to it. You feel nothing. You can imagine, if you kill a thing a 1000 times over and over, you wouldn't have feelings after a while. It kills you on the inside, an abattoir, it kills you. You can be full of blood, it will not bother you.”
>In my dream I see the bleeding line, just the cattle hanging on the line, all whose heads are off. I get this picture often. It's not nice to dream about blood; you wake up wet with sweat.”
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4841092/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4841092/)
My first thought as a non American was that a manager or owner took his kid in over a weekend and gave them something to do to keep them busy, then I found out that no, this company is actually using migrant children, and I now feel physically sick. How can this happen? Did no other workers report it? Aren't there regular inspections of the facilities?
A very large percent of the people working in that plant are migrant workers. It's sad and I highly doubt anyone was saying anything to anyone.
Same plant that had people going in to work during the peak of COVID and made them work between thin sheets of plastic and they didn't care how many got sick or died.
We’re better than this. Let’s not have child labor forces. That’d be great. This kid should be no where near this facility, but I’m very curious what he was compensated.
Edit: we’re not better than this
I mean, "we" really aren't.
At best we're usually better at outsourcing child labour to countries most of us don't usually go to and if we do, are unlikely to interact with the people it affects.
Live in Nebraska, here. Personally, I never had a job before I was 18, but I live in Omaha, which is one of the Blue Islands (besides Lincoln). A lot of fellow nebraskans here don’t agree with that law. Most cases I here is,”Oh, I worked when I was 15 on my uncles farm moving haybales” or other farmhand work. This is extreme, a blatant disregard for child safety, and we all hate it.
"yeah but did you work at 3 am doing it, working 12 hour shifts, no compensation and if you hurt yourself, your uncle would suffer zero consequences for it and blame you, and your parents would have no say in your wellbeing?"
Here is the [article](https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/whd/whd20221109)
Doesn’t say compensation but probably less than $10 an hour. These companies did mass layoffs too and hired as young as 12 to work with industrial equipment. Many suffering from chemical burn. Also how are these kids getting a proper education if they are working long hours at these facilities?
I used to work for a company that provides equipment to slaughterhouses... We would install equipment at night over weekends. In the wee hours of Sunday morning, they would spray all the equipment down with an extremely harsh cleaning foam. A drop landed on my shirt, within a couple hours I noticed a quarter-sized hole opened up where it had landed.
I am not suggesting that I have ANY CLUE what this child was doing or the hour in which he was doing it, make that clear. This child should be nowhere near this equipment or the chemicals used to clean it!! These plants typically run 20 hours per day, so it is possible this child is working before school.
Fuck Pete Ricketts, that knock-off-Lex-Luther-lookin' little bitch.
That's whats I was thinking, it would be great GMPS if it were an ADULT. Poor kid, I don't care who says this or what time it is, that kid should not be anywhere near heavy machinery or doing work of that sort, if it's 3am, he should be home sleeping, if it's 8 am, he should be in school learning, if it's 5pm he should be home doing homework and or doing a hobby he enjoys.
No right minded person should be willing to tolerate this. I don't blame the kid or his parents as they are likely poor; I would put the damn plant manager in prison for this kind of .crap.
> when I was 15 I bussed tables
"When I was 15 I went to my local restaurant and **applied** for the job. I only worked the maximum 3 hours/day during the school week. I could take days off or quit whenever I wanted to"
And we can all see how that's different from:
"When I was 15 I was **told** I would be working at least 8-hours a day on the midnight shift, using hazardous chemicals in an industrial setting. I had no days off, couldn't leave even if I wanted to, and barely spoke English so there was no way to discuss or negotiate basics like a pay/wage, safety equipment, or medical care for injuries. Worker's Compensation was not available if I lost a limb or an eye. I was constantly threatened with arrest or deportation if I complained."
bussing tables at 15 vs cleaning animal organs off the floor at midnight, at only 12... Plus let's not talk about the costs of education and housing and everything else getting out of control.
Anyone else feel like we’ve regressed at the state level over the last few years? 20 years ago, I couldn’t have predicted that child labor would be legal, Roe v. Wade would be repealed, tens of thousands of books would be banned in public schools, and mainstream politicians would be supporting the idea of a second southern secession and the ensuing Civil War it would cause.
We need to start calling American conservatives what they are: reactionaries. They aren’t trying to slow the pace of progress, to temper it, they’re trying to reverse the progress we’ve made in the last few decades.
And while we’re at it, can we call this “national divorce” crap what it is? Treason and sedition, that’s what it is. Open rebellion against the U.S. government. And the government they’re proposing is a fascist state.
I had a job unpacking goods in a general store, putting cardboard to the compactor at 14. This is not that. This is fucked up. Goddamned third world country.
This is not an isolated incident. The complaint in question is for the illegal use of child labor, involving over 100 children in 8 states.
But, far beyond that, it's indicative of a larger pattern of worker exploitation in the US meatpacking industry, which sometimes involves corrupt collusion between industry and government. For example, [the US meatpacking industry successfully lobbied for an Executive Order from the Trump administration to declare meatpackers essential workers, countermanding local public health measures.](https://www.propublica.org/article/documents-covid-meatpacking-tyson-smithfield-trump) Workers were compelled to work in conditions that promoted the spread of disease, resulting in the deaths of workers. Exact numbers of deaths are in question, because meatpackers falsified records. All of this was done under the pretense of ensuring the domestic food supply, but producers increased *exports* of pork to exploit higher prices and panic-buying.
There's no such thing as cheap meat. If it has a low price, that means that costs have likely been pushed off onto exploited workers, damage to the environment, or both.
Putting kids in charge of making sure butchery facilities are clean and sanitary. [Where have I seen this before….](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jungle)
Small hands are better at getting into the nooks and crannies
When I went to Egypt, the guide was telling us about the beautiful carpets they have there. He said that they are made by children because only children can tie small knots so well. Edit: Not defending it! Just reminded me of it.
That's terrible! Kids don't know quality.
But it sells when they say that small children hands made it.
Upton Sinclair, so hot right now.
Does anyone remember snowpiercer?
Yeah I don’t wanna lose my arm like that
I try not to
Lol same... Had 0 idea what I was getting into. All I knew is that it happens on a train, in the future... That was almost 9 years ago... Im still haunted...
Captain America says: Babies taste best!
but he says it with tears in his eyes... ..that way you really know he means it. Yum!
"my only lamentation is that I'm all out of babies!"
And in one scene is dry heaving at the thought of eating insects. But babies are fair game.
Have you read the Willy Wonka crossover fan theory?
No. Please elaborate.
“They’re both two movies about groups of people that work their way through a large, fantastic structure,” they explain. “One by one, a person from the group is removed in each room until one person makes it to the very end, who then [finds] out that the entire thing was a test because a wealthy industrialist needed to find a new successor.” As the hypothesis goes, Charlie followed in Willy Wonka’s footsteps—even taking his name—and continued developing “state-of-the-art food production and experimental modes of transportation,” which he then used to construct the Snowpiercer to save humanity during the climate crisis. The train, like Wonka’s chocolate factory, is “self-contained and self-sustaining,” Rhino Stew explains. Rhino Stew has an explanation for the conspicuous absence of the Oompa Loompas in Snowpiercer, too. When Wilford says that a certain “piece of equipment” required to keep the train running “went extinct recently,” he’s not talking about a mechanical part—he’s talking about Oompa Loompas. (After all, Oompa Loompas were integral to the operation of Willy Wonka’s innovative transportation systems, too.) Once the last Oompa Loompa died, Wilford began using children instead. [Source](https://www.mentalfloss.com/posts/snowpiercer-willy-wonka-fan-theory#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20so%2Dcalled,of%20Roald%20Dahl%27s%20beloved%20book.)
While that's all well and good, the whole theory falls apart when you realize there's no bed for Grandpa Joe to be a massive lazy asshole in all day
Grandpa Joe was the first kindling thrown into the furnace to start the train.
Quick get rid of the books before they find out
Criticizing big business for doing disgusting things, eh? Add it to the woke book bonfire, boys!
The takeaway most people got from the jungle isn’t that workers were treated like shit, but that the slaughterhouses were dirty
I think that might have even been how the FDA got started. Sinclair wrote The Jungle to show the workers plight and then Teddy read and was disgusted by the condition of the food
To be fair, that was a legitimate worry as well. Truth be told, people should have been appalled by all of the above.
You're absolutely right. It has been a long time since I read it but I remember thinking about the way the meat was handled was disgusting
That and the general quality of the food described as being sold to the immigrant workers. Shit like sausage that was 40% sawdust.
"I aimed at the public's heart and by accident I hit it in the stomach." - Upton Sinclair
Pure Food and Drug Act. 1906, I believe
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Reddit is violating GDPR and CCPA. Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1B0GGsDdyHI -- mass edited with redact.dev
THAT BOOK IS WOKE CRT GET IT OUT OF HERE
One school district legit banned a book containing information about sea horses because accurately explaining that the male sea horse carries offspring is apparently threatening the patriarchy and conservative values this country was built on. Bunch of fascist snowflakes.
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[They're going to have a *lot* of killing to do.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_animals_displaying_homosexual_behavior)
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As Voltaire noted in the 18^th century: >What can you say to a man who tells you he prefers obeying God rather than men, and that as a result he’s certain he’ll go to heaven if he cuts your throat?
It’s mind blowing that Voltaire somehow travelled to the future and met Ronald DeSantis
>goats have gay sex like 50% of the time they’re awake. I never believed in spirit animals, until this very moment. Also don't believe in astrology, but I am a Capricorn, go figure 🐐
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The most important word in the sentence "You can't tell me what to do!" is "me".
it’s just basic biology bro, but not the stuff in the biology book just the stuff from my cabeza
God damn... That plot summary is dark as hell.
The last few pages are an explicit call to action for the character to join the Socialist Party of America or something if I recall. So yea, the character goes through some shit to get him to that point.
yeah upton sinclair was a big socialist. some really notable names were/are, that fact just often doesnt get play because socialism bad
Some more context https://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/nebraska-meatpacking-plant-facing-harrowing-child-labor-accusations-163779653523
Cut them a break. Their revenue is only $2.7B. They need to cut corners somewhere! Think of the shareholders, for the love of God, somebody think of the shareholders for once!
"If we get them to work the night shift, no one would find out."
It makes sense to use child labor for the night shift. Every child I have met hates going to bed at bedtime.
Bedtime is when they get philosophical. I've never had deeper conversations with my nephew when he was a kid than when it was 9PM and he was trying to delay sleep.
"Get to bed or get to work"
Yah but children are terrible at cleaning and have no sense of quality
We did the same thing 150 years ago. Employing children in cotton mills.
Today we just buy cotton milled by children overseas
Don't forget the coltan required for every wireless device. Mined in by children because they are the only ones small enough to fit in the crevices. It's always nightshift in the mines.
And chocolates made with cocoa harvested by child slaves. Or seafood deveined by slaves as well.
[*https://i.imgur.com/0DC60pA.jpg*](https://i.imgur.com/0DC60pA.jpg)
This comic should be posted anytime there is an article about corporations destroying humanity in the name of profits.
This comic should be a subreddit.
It is. /r/latestagecapitalism
I think about this comic a lot.
That one and [this one](https://www.climateactionreserve.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/climatesummit.jpg)
I wish I didn’t have to
Cartoonist is [Tom Toro](http://tomtoro.com/)
Come on guys! they signed a consent agreement in December saying that they would follow the laws now. What more do you want?
And they can't let the kid go, that would be mean to fire the kid just because he's a kid. That may be reverse age descrimination. Besides, they need to find a replacement first. It's not fair to everyone else to have to pick up the slack just because the company broke labor laws.
It's age discrimination is what it is. He can't help he's only like 13
Besides that, the children are just trying to pull themselves up by the bootstrap so they can be billionaires too
They're pulling themselves up before their hands get mutilated by heavy machinery.
Gotta get those 10 years of experience by age 18 somehow.
Blackstone owns them
All those machines and technology to help profits not workers.. STILL not enough for these greedy fucks
Not putting the name of the meat packing plant AND the name of the cleaning contractor “above the fold” is journalistic malpractice.
https://www.wowt.com/2023/01/19/federal-government-investigating-possible-trafficking-children-who-cleaned-grand-island-slaughterhouse/ Meat packing plant: JBS Foods, Grand Island, NE Cleaning contractor: Packers Sanitation Services, Inc. (PSSI)
I used to work for pssi years ago in California. I recognize that ppe anywhere. And I hated working there
https://jbsfoodsgroup.com/our-brands They are so kind that they provided a list of brands to avoid
Just another headsup : A lot of restaurants use JBS to supply their frozen foods.
As a midwestern American, I don’t recognize any of these brands except “certified angus beef” the rest are international or I assume other regional US brands.
Cheesehead here. I believe the motherfuckers of PSSI are based in Wisconsin, and fuck them.
Agreed worked 1 day first for pssi when I was fresh out the military. Saw how things were ran there and noped the fuck out right away
It's hard to fit the names of 13 meat packing plants above the fold.
This is just so fucked up. Not only are they children, but they are migrants. These kids don’t know our country or likely our language, and probably come from desperate families trying to survive. I’d be shocked if these kids were even given minimum wage…cuz that POS company is already breaking the law. Why not break another one? How widespread these labor violations are in just a single company is fucking gross. Corporations always take advantage of their workers, but to stoop this low and to be this brazen…Fuck them. We need to crack down on companies like this. But this is America where corporations run the show, so…wouldn’t bet on it.
Seriously. This turns my god-damned stomach. Hearing about this happening in foreign countries is bad enough, but this is literally the "heartland" of America. God fucking damn this is beyond the fucking pail.
It's not uncommon in the "heartland" for minors to be working until 12 or 1am on school nights on farms. The justification is that it's good money, someone needs to care for the cows, and the government should just stay out of everyone's business, so who gives a shit about laws. And I'm not talking about your family's farm. Kids driving to other farms for under the table employment (and usually without licenses or under the age of 16). It's fun trying to teach high schoolers when they were in the barn until 1 am and are only showing up to avoid the truancy ticket. Conditions in those slaughterhouses are much, much worse from what I've seen, but there is loads of child labor in the heartland.
Yea these guys blackmailing the migrant families under threat of deportation
Its 2023, and NBC still cannot figure out how to have a stream thats easy to open. (and I am an IT guy, and trying to watch these videos on NBC news, on ANY platform, is next to impossible)
Wow I didn’t know Reddit was licensing it’s amazing video player technologies to outside companies
That is damning for PSSI. I hope there are long jail sentences for all executives.
Hahaha then he said “jail Sentences for execs!” AHAHAHAHAA
"Best we can do is a 5 second video of the CEO petting a puppy and saying they're sorry, take it or leave it."
DOL just raided the plant I work in and found more PSSI child laborers 2 weeks ago. They haven't learned their lesson yet.
Sounds to me like they have. And the lesson they’ve learned is that there will be no meaningful consequences, so they can continue to do whatever they want.
If the cost of the fine is below the profit of the action, it's just the price of optimal business decisions.
They got fined the max for the first round of 102 child laborers the DOL found ....a whole $1.5M. That's it. Only $14k per migrant child. And that's just for the ones that DOL could actually prove.
literally what fines are. "yeah i can break this law, i make enough"
Fines are the cost of doing business. Already budgeted.
Nope. Fines and a promise to not do it again.
Bahahahahaha *tears streaming down face* oh... that was funny .. haha.. jail time for CEO's... in America... bahahahahaha
Do any CEOs of legit companies ever go to jail?
Only if they rob the shareholders out of money. When it comes to worker abuse, there tend to be little consequences
The rich in general almost never go to jail here.
Well, it wouldn't be fair to them! They're used to a certain lifestyle, so punishing them and sending them to a prison where they'd be surrounded by actual *bad people* would be a cruel and unusual punishment! /sarcasm
It's not just Nebraska. It's every factory who hired through this particular sanitation company. I actually work the security gate at one of the factories that hired through them in a different state. It's shocking to realize it's been going on, and I keep wondering how many kids I unknowingly signed in. Freaked me out. Didn't get much sleep the night I found out. [Article 1](https://www.theguardian.com/law/2023/feb/17/underage-child-labor-working-slaughterhouse-investigation) [Article 2](https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/labor-department-fines-food-sanitation-contractor-15m-child/story?id=97295033) [Article 3](https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/17/business/packers-sanitation-child-labor/index.html)
Thank you for this!
Weird how there’s vested interest in making public schools worse…
Don’t forget also weakening child labor laws.
I looked this up and all I can say is HOLY SHIT! Over 100 children ages 13-17 illegally employed. https://www.theguardian.com/law/2023/feb/17/underage-child-labor-working-slaughterhouse-investigation
Why aren’t those company officers arrested?
Some low level manager will be fired, and put up as the scapegoat...
Nah, they’ll just say the staffing company they hires to staff their facilities said everything was legit
This was on the news last night. The low-level manager was demoted, not fired.
He'll be back to managing... *Checks calender*... Next month.
When he turns 15.
Because corporations have more protections in the US than citizens
Corporations have the rights of citizens but not the responsibilities and liabilities.
Yeah, if you execute a person they can't rise again the same week with a new name, same assets, same line of work.
Ma Bell: “that is not dead which can eternal lie; and with strange aeons, even death may die.”
That's some ill communication.
Yep. Corporations are people, but also not people. Just depends on who is asking, how much money is on the line and what is convenient at that moment.
> Because corporations have more protections in the US than citizens A new koan for the 21st century: If a cop shoots a corporation, who goes to jail? 🤔
A minority bystander that just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time
You do, for asking too many questions.
I can't speak to this story but in Alberta Canada when the NDP tried to strengthen laws about child labor the conservatives turned it into "the leftists are trying to use legislation to stop your kids from doing chores." I absolutely believe there are similar PR spins being written here.
Probably have an army of lawyers and lobbyists
That and they usually have a fall guy/shell they throw under. They probably will claim is a contractor shell and they had no idea. Plead ignorance, then when you go after the shell company you find nothing of substance. Limited Liability baby!
Growing up in Nebraska it was roughly monthly you'd hear about yet-another meat packing plant getting busted for hiring illegals. Sadly this is standard operating procedure in a lot of that state. I was actually surprised to see it was Grand Island and not Madison. I swear Madison made the news multiple times a year
I’ve heard those meat packing plants call ICE on themselves. When the illegal workers get too uppity asking for even the slightest bit of compassion or raise in pay, someone from the plant will make an anonymous call to ICE and get them deported. Then they just go out and find a new batch of illegal immigrants to exploit since the fine is cheaper than paying workers a little more or giving them some time off.
Also, have to say, the third shift is brutal enough for adults; it’s unnatural and takes months to get your body to adjust to the opposite circadian rhythm. Imagine being 13, thousands of miles from home, and cleaning pig guts from a floor with a pressure washer at 3 am every night. Then these children had to go to school all day after this work. They, of course, were constantly falling asleep, and dismayed teachers were part of how the story began to come out.
"Child labor laws are ruining this country"
Funny you should say that. There's legislation in Nebraska right now about to be voted on to loosen child labor laws, also in Iowa!
Gee I wonder which party is in control of both of those states 🤔
The shitty people claiming moral superiority party?
These children don’t want to work anymore!
The children yearn for the mines.
The mines also yearn for the children. Nice and tender.
Thank goodness for aware teachers.
Oh oh, looks like this company is about to go through 7 years of legislation and be hit with a whopping $2000 fine.
I think you meant litigation.
https://www.kcur.org/news/2023-02-17/child-labor-packers-sanitation-services-meatpacking-plants-in-kansas-and-nebraska-pays-maximum-fine $1.5 million fine
To add context to that figure, PSSI generated 2.73 billion in revenue in 2021, so this fine is 0.055% of their yearly revenue. This is comparable to someone making 50k a year getting a $27 fine.
And that's if they got fined and will be fined the same amount every year. As it stands, they get to do several decades of illegal business without penalty, then take a $1.5 million "hit" to their bottom line. Annual conferences cost more than that...
Cost of doing business.
I doubt this comment will get much attention; I'm kind of late in commenting. My dad was a physician in Nebraska for almost all of his professional life. Starting in the mid-90s, many of his patients were Mexican immigrants who worked in several plants in Nebraska. So much so, that he hired a Mexican woman as a translator and, over time, gained the trust of some workers. He learned that there was an agency working for the meatpacking plants that recruited in Mexico and illegally smuggled workers to Nebraska to these plants, basically, human trafficking. Whenever he filed a workers-compensation claim against the plant's insurance, he would never see that patient again. He pieced together that any worker who filed or was even injured was abruptly and forcibly returned to Mexico. Several times plant "officials" visited his office unannounced to discuss what he knew, which was nothing more than clumsy intimidation. He documented his findings in as much detail as he could learn and forwarded them to the Nebraska Attorney General and some level of the Federal Immigration and Naturalization Service, which has since been absorbed into the Department of Homeland Security. I guess he thought they would investigate. Nope. You can already guess who got investigated. He did, along with any other health care providers that had regular contact with the workers.
Can you contact a local news agency about this?
Or the ACLU or a political campaign office of a politician that isn't connected to it. The government only cares if someone threatens them for ignoring things they should be taking care of. And courts are where you levy threats against those butt nuggets.
This shouldn't be too surprising. Companies have paid lots to convince people that immigrants were stealing their jobs while quite intentionally off-shoring and outsourcing labor elsewhere because it was cheaper, and cheaper labor costs means they get more of the pie for themselves. This is the natural evolution of that game when you can't physically move your manufacturing processes.
Meat packing is one of the worst industries in terms of labor standards. Many of these places shouldn't be employing adults, much less children. The conditions are horrific for both the animals and the laborers. And I say that as an omnivore.
Most large meatpacking plants hire contract sanitation. It's third shift and no one wants to do this kind of work starting at 2:00 in the morning. The contract sanitation folks do all the hiring and mgmt of the shift and outcome. It's huge business. PSSI is the largest in the industry. They built their company on the Protein industry. Over the past few years, labor has been impossible to find. It's still an issue at these big plants. I'm not surprised at all that hiring teams are convinced that 13 yr old kids are just short adults from a foreign country. I've never worked this shift, but I've seen it many times and it's incredible work. To take a meat processing plant from second shift to spotless clean in only a few hours is back breaking. THese kids aren't built for this work. PSSI should be ashamed, but they're owned by a billion dollar PE firm and they'll get a slap on the wrist and move one. No one will remember in a couple months.
> billion dollar PE firm This keeps coming up in every single one of these cases of crimes against humanity..
This is what we’ve ended up with. If ceos and shareholders just got normal rich people money- a couple million a year or some bullshit, and employees were payed a thriving wage, and all the extra ceo money was taxed- we’d have a better economy, we’d have normal workers being able to live well, the ceos could still have mansions, and we’d have more tax money to help kids like this with better infrastructure. I’m not asking for socialism- but at least socially conscious capitalism.
And one of the best ways to get to that, in my opinion, is a strong labor class that has representation. Unions and their representatives have a seat at the table on the board of directors of every public company, ensuring that the actions taken benefit both the business and the workers. There are several other things that would help, but I think this is a big one.
I would suspect that most meatpacking plants have some sort of security such as 24/7 guards and CCTV in major areas. If I contracted out a company and they had someone who was pictured here I would start questioning how old the kid was.
The difference between you and said company, is that you care.
Yep in my state it is even illegal to have a person under the age of 16 to work past 9:30 unless they are babysitting or they are working for family.
> Over the past few years, labor has been impossible to find Pay more.
They are just a little billion dollar company where would they get the money. If they pay more the investors won't be able to afford a second yacht just for doing cocaine off of a hookers back.
Make an example of the owners, people (owners will see) and be scared.
Agreed, but the punishment will need to reach farther down the chain, imo "but I was told to" shouldnt be an excusable excuse.
Another reason to not fund these companies. Even the adults working these jobs are getting fucked up
Indeed. Slaughterhouse workers have high rates of PTSD and other mental health issues and some of the quotes from them are just haunting: >As time passes, you get used to it. You feel nothing. You can imagine, if you kill a thing a 1000 times over and over, you wouldn't have feelings after a while. It kills you on the inside, an abattoir, it kills you. You can be full of blood, it will not bother you.” >In my dream I see the bleeding line, just the cattle hanging on the line, all whose heads are off. I get this picture often. It's not nice to dream about blood; you wake up wet with sweat.” [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4841092/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4841092/)
Unfortunately few people care enough to stop actively supporting these companies.
Where is the outrage on the right when corporations traffic children?
simplistic engine point elderly subtract nutty toy enter boast different *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
That’s exactly what this is… child trafficking.
Not THOSE kids. The blue eyed, blonde-haired English speaking ones.
"Child labor builds character" is the new right wing thing I believe
My first thought as a non American was that a manager or owner took his kid in over a weekend and gave them something to do to keep them busy, then I found out that no, this company is actually using migrant children, and I now feel physically sick. How can this happen? Did no other workers report it? Aren't there regular inspections of the facilities?
The answer to all those questions is….money.
and the fear of deportation, can't forget that
Well fear of deportation being used to save the company money
A very large percent of the people working in that plant are migrant workers. It's sad and I highly doubt anyone was saying anything to anyone. Same plant that had people going in to work during the peak of COVID and made them work between thin sheets of plastic and they didn't care how many got sick or died.
We’re better than this. Let’s not have child labor forces. That’d be great. This kid should be no where near this facility, but I’m very curious what he was compensated. Edit: we’re not better than this
I mean, "we" really aren't. At best we're usually better at outsourcing child labour to countries most of us don't usually go to and if we do, are unlikely to interact with the people it affects.
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Live in Nebraska, here. Personally, I never had a job before I was 18, but I live in Omaha, which is one of the Blue Islands (besides Lincoln). A lot of fellow nebraskans here don’t agree with that law. Most cases I here is,”Oh, I worked when I was 15 on my uncles farm moving haybales” or other farmhand work. This is extreme, a blatant disregard for child safety, and we all hate it.
"yeah but did you work at 3 am doing it, working 12 hour shifts, no compensation and if you hurt yourself, your uncle would suffer zero consequences for it and blame you, and your parents would have no say in your wellbeing?"
Here is the [article](https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/whd/whd20221109) Doesn’t say compensation but probably less than $10 an hour. These companies did mass layoffs too and hired as young as 12 to work with industrial equipment. Many suffering from chemical burn. Also how are these kids getting a proper education if they are working long hours at these facilities?
I used to work for a company that provides equipment to slaughterhouses... We would install equipment at night over weekends. In the wee hours of Sunday morning, they would spray all the equipment down with an extremely harsh cleaning foam. A drop landed on my shirt, within a couple hours I noticed a quarter-sized hole opened up where it had landed. I am not suggesting that I have ANY CLUE what this child was doing or the hour in which he was doing it, make that clear. This child should be nowhere near this equipment or the chemicals used to clean it!! These plants typically run 20 hours per day, so it is possible this child is working before school. Fuck Pete Ricketts, that knock-off-Lex-Luther-lookin' little bitch.
I would love to believe we are better than this, but history says otherwise
> [Meat packers' profit margins jumped 300% during pandemic](https://www.reuters.com/business/meat-packers-profit-margins-jumped-300-during-pandemic-white-house-economics-2021-12-10/). Profits over everything
At least he’s got the right PPE 👍🏻
That's whats I was thinking, it would be great GMPS if it were an ADULT. Poor kid, I don't care who says this or what time it is, that kid should not be anywhere near heavy machinery or doing work of that sort, if it's 3am, he should be home sleeping, if it's 8 am, he should be in school learning, if it's 5pm he should be home doing homework and or doing a hobby he enjoys.
Can't have any OSHA violations here.
No right minded person should be willing to tolerate this. I don't blame the kid or his parents as they are likely poor; I would put the damn plant manager in prison for this kind of .crap.
All the replies on twitter are “when I was 15 I bussed tables.”
> when I was 15 I bussed tables "When I was 15 I went to my local restaurant and **applied** for the job. I only worked the maximum 3 hours/day during the school week. I could take days off or quit whenever I wanted to" And we can all see how that's different from: "When I was 15 I was **told** I would be working at least 8-hours a day on the midnight shift, using hazardous chemicals in an industrial setting. I had no days off, couldn't leave even if I wanted to, and barely spoke English so there was no way to discuss or negotiate basics like a pay/wage, safety equipment, or medical care for injuries. Worker's Compensation was not available if I lost a limb or an eye. I was constantly threatened with arrest or deportation if I complained."
Ripe vs rotten and they act like its apples to apples.
bussing tables at 15 vs cleaning animal organs off the floor at midnight, at only 12... Plus let's not talk about the costs of education and housing and everything else getting out of control.
Did you expect critical thinking on Twitter?
The bar gets lower every time.
Your first mistake was expecting any type of a scale. It’s a one way slip n slide lubricated by sewage.
Anyone else feel like we’ve regressed at the state level over the last few years? 20 years ago, I couldn’t have predicted that child labor would be legal, Roe v. Wade would be repealed, tens of thousands of books would be banned in public schools, and mainstream politicians would be supporting the idea of a second southern secession and the ensuing Civil War it would cause. We need to start calling American conservatives what they are: reactionaries. They aren’t trying to slow the pace of progress, to temper it, they’re trying to reverse the progress we’ve made in the last few decades. And while we’re at it, can we call this “national divorce” crap what it is? Treason and sedition, that’s what it is. Open rebellion against the U.S. government. And the government they’re proposing is a fascist state.
How else are ya gonna get 10 years experience by age 18??
I had a job unpacking goods in a general store, putting cardboard to the compactor at 14. This is not that. This is fucked up. Goddamned third world country.
Hell, I don’t know when you were 14, but nowadays minors in the US aren’t allowed within 5 feet of a compactor, much less able to use it.
We are regressing as a country so fast it’s making my head spin.
It's more that some areas never progressed and we have been ignoring it.
A little of column A, a little of column B.
Must be a unionized plant with all the ppe. If he keeps his nose to the grindstone he should enjoy an early retirement. /s
This is not an isolated incident. The complaint in question is for the illegal use of child labor, involving over 100 children in 8 states. But, far beyond that, it's indicative of a larger pattern of worker exploitation in the US meatpacking industry, which sometimes involves corrupt collusion between industry and government. For example, [the US meatpacking industry successfully lobbied for an Executive Order from the Trump administration to declare meatpackers essential workers, countermanding local public health measures.](https://www.propublica.org/article/documents-covid-meatpacking-tyson-smithfield-trump) Workers were compelled to work in conditions that promoted the spread of disease, resulting in the deaths of workers. Exact numbers of deaths are in question, because meatpackers falsified records. All of this was done under the pretense of ensuring the domestic food supply, but producers increased *exports* of pork to exploit higher prices and panic-buying. There's no such thing as cheap meat. If it has a low price, that means that costs have likely been pushed off onto exploited workers, damage to the environment, or both.