Even before the current pandemic, working conditions in poultry packing plants have always posed a high risk to workers. Past reports repeatedly have found meat processing of chickens to be one of the most dangerous jobs even compared to other high-risk jobs in construction, auto manufacturing, steel and sawmills. Tyson Foods has employed several strategies to monitor the risk of community spread of the virus through their factories including plastic or metal barriers between workstations, temperature checks of all employees and plant-wide testing for covid-19.
Though factories in other states have been closed for deep cleaning, the chicken processing factories in Northwest Arkansas have not closed. Both Tyson Foods and Governor Hutchinson have ignored protests from the worker rights organization Venceremos and deflected accountability by pointing to the interconnected cultures of their employees and general community spread. Despite the increase in employee illness, the factories in Arkansas have not only stayed open but increased line production.
In general, workers in poultry plants have less union representation than other meat packing plants. Only one-third of poultry workers across the country are members of the United Food and Commercial Workers union. Tyson Foods has, however, responded to inquiries and given plant tours to government leaders, the CDC, and Marshallese Consulate General Eldon Alik and Dr. Sheldon Riklon. Tyson Foods has also consistently responded to invitations to discuss community needs with the Marshallese COVID-19 Taskforce. Chikin Melele will be reporting further on those discussions.
Tyson Foods has been less responsive to Latinx worker-based organization Venceremos. The phrase Venceremos means “jenaaj ellā ioon” or “we will triumph” and comes from social movements in South America. Venceremos has drawn media attention for organizing several protests against the general and pandemic work conditions for poultry workers. In May, Venceremos organized a Caravan of Justice or drive-through protest with 50 people protesting in front of the Tyson Plant on Berry Street. In June, 89 people showed up to march through downtown Springdale demanding that the governor shut down poultry plants to allow workers to quarantine. And, this month, almost 30 people attended a rally at the state capital in Little Rock where Venceremos delivered a petition with over 2,300 signatures and a letter to the state governor calling for government action to address the problems in the poultry industry.
The protests have drawn attention to the injustice of how poultry workers have been praised as essential workers but are essentially treated by the poultry companies as expendable. The brother of a line supervisor in a Tyson Foods Berryville plant described the 8-foot tall metal walls that had been installed between workstations. He said that while the walls are better than the “laughable little sheets” in Springdale factories the barriers turn the workers into “chicken slaves.”
Both Venceremos and the Marshallese COVID19 Taskforce have been asking the chicken plants to do more than provide widespread covid-testing and essential worker incentives. They want full sick leave benefits, paid sick leave and factory closures of at least two weeks for deep cleaning.
Magaly Licolli talked with Chikin Melele about her work over the last five years organizing for worker’s rights. She worked with Albious Latior from 2014 to 2016 at the NWA Worker’s Justice Center before organizing Venceremos to focus specifically on helping poultry workers. “It’s been really hard” she says because of the economic power that Tyson Foods has in Arkansas. She continued to explain that “it’s intentional how they keep workers divided by language and culture.”
Venceremos is still mostly a Latinx organization, but Licolli hopes that Venceremos can empower all workers. She said, “I am Latina, but it’s for everyone. The Marshallese can come to Venceremos to empower their community.” Even among Latinx communities, it has been crucial to heal the divisions among the Salvadoreans, Mexicans and Puerto Ricans.
Magaly Licolli came here in 2004 from Mexico City and graduated from the University of Arkansas. She has relied on her background in storytelling and theater to bring workers together. She said that “everybody learns from each other. Across cultures, genders, and langauge, we all have stories to share and learn from each other.”
The pandemic has finally drawn attention to worker conditions in meat processing factories and Venceremos is saying that it is time to hold these factories accountable if not to the government then to their workers and the people who buy their products.