Minnesota law failing to improve meatpacking safety, survey finds

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.workdayminnesota.org/index.php?news_6_4281

By Barb Kucera, Workday editor
16 December 2009

MINNEAPOLIS - A two-year-old law intended to improve safety for meatpacking workers has failed and conditions in many plants have actually gotten worse, according to a survey by the Human Rights Program at the University of Minnesota.
In 2007, the Minnesota Legislature passed a Packinghouse Workers Bill of Rights, becoming only the second state – after Nebraska – to implement legislation targeting one of the most dangerous industries. Among other things, the bill provides meatpacking workers the right to adequate equipment to safely perform their jobs and information about occupational hazards known to exist in the workplace.

To test the effectiveness of the law, researchers conducted an in-depth survey of 51 current and former meatpacking workers at two poultry plants, two beef plants and one pork plant in Minnesota. The surveys, which were voluntary, were administered in English, Spanish or Somali and took between 30 minutes and an hour to complete.

The results were striking, researchers Barbara Frey, Chris Strunk and Alyssa Erickson wrote.

“Our findings show that workers’ primary concerns about conditions were the increasing speed of the production line and the association of line speed with workplace injuries,” they wrote.

FULL story at link.