Union meets with poultry workers (BOOSTING ITS N.C. STAFF)

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.charlotte.com/local/story/528712.html

KERRY HALL
[e-mail]

A union that represents poultry workers is boosting its N.C. staff in light of Observer reports that workers at House of Raeford Farms plants are suffering.

In Raeford, where the company is based, the United Food and Commercial Workers Union International recently brought in seven staffers to train local union leaders and to meet with House of Raeford's largely Latino work force.

House of Raeford and other poultry companies depend heavily on workers' hands to turn thousands of birds each day into cuts for restaurants, stores and cafeterias. In a six-part series, "The Cruelest Cuts," the Observer reported last month that House of Raeford has masked the extent of injuries inside its plants.

The newspaper reported that the N.C. poultry giant has broken the law by failing to record injuries on government safety logs, according to a top OSHA official, and that some seriously injured workers were brought back to the company's Greenville, S.C., plant hours after surgery. Employees said the company has ignored, intimidated or fired workers who were hurt on the job.

House of Raeford has said it follows the law and strives to protect workers.

Union leaders didn't know the extent of injured workers being fired or having trouble getting medical treatment before reading the Observer articles, said Jackie Nowell, UFCW's safety and health director.

FULL story at link.