Reply #2: A NYT columnist had an op ed on this recently.

[davsand]

"Bob Herbert: Where the Hogs Come First...An American Metaphor

Butchery, Barbarity & Exploitation

The Smithfield Packing Company is a case study in both the butchering of hogs and the systematic exploitation of vulnerable workers..."

NYT requires a subscription so I won't link to their site. I did, however, find it online at the following link:

http://www.radicalleft.net/blog/_archives/2006/6/15/2033414.html

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This place is a case study in all that can be wrong about corporate America. For the princely sum of about $8.00 an hour under educated and minority workers can risk life and limb to help bring us all pork products.

The company has intimidated and even beaten workers who have tried to unionize and has used illegal tactics for years to block UFCW from going in there.

Something they don't talk about in that article, is the fact that pork production in the US is in the hands of about 4 or 5 of these companies. Chicken or poultry production is similarly controlled by a few major corporations.

Doesn't that make you feel good about our food supply?

:puke:


Laura

Edited to add formatting and quote marks