Marc Perrone, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), released the following statement regarding the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) decision to eliminate line speed limits at pork plants.
“This desire to increase line speeds is being driven entirely by corporate greed and defies common sense.
“Jobs inside pork plants are some of the most dangerous and difficult in America. We’re only putting workers at greater risk of injury and consumers at greater risk of consuming unsafe meat by asking everyone who labors inside one to work faster.
“For the sake of keeping millions of hard-working families safe, this decision deserves immediate reconsideration.”
BACKGROUND
- The UFCW union family represents hard-working men and women in pork plants that have already had their line speed limits eliminated as part of a trial program, as well as people who are in plants that run profitably with line speed limits in place.
- According to a 2013 report from the USDA OIG, the existing trial program did not result in better food safety.
- Injury rates in the meatpacking industry are already twice as high as the national average and workplace illness rates are 20 times as high.
- This latest announcement follows the recent regulatory effort to remove line speed limits for the poultry industry.
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The UFCW is the largest private sector union in the United States, representing 1.3 million professionals and their families in grocery stores, meatpacking, food processing, retail shops and other industries.
Our members help put food on our nation’s tables and serve customers in all 50 states, Canada and Puerto Rico. Learn more about the UFCW at www.ufcw.org.