Tennessee company fined nearly $650K for illegally hiring minors to clean slaughterhouses
Source: USA Today
Published 10:53 p.m. ET May 6, 2024
A Tennessee-based cleaning company has agreed to pay nearly $650,000 in civil penalties after federal investigators found the company employed at least 24 children at two slaughtering and meat packing facilities, the U.S. Department of Labor announced Monday.
A federal court in Iowa approved a consent order and judgment Monday with Fayette Janitorial Service LLC, which requires the company to pay $649,304 in civil penalties, the Labor Department said in a news release. The company must also hire a third-party to implement company policies to prevent the illegal employment of children and create a program for reporting concerns about child labor violations.
The Labor Department obtained a preliminary injunction against Fayette Janitorial in late February after an investigation discovered that the company employed at least 24 children, including children as young as 13 years old, on overnight sanitation shifts at two slaughtering and meat packing facilities in Sioux City, Iowa, and Accomac, Virginia.
Under U.S. law, children under the age 18 are prohibited from being employed in dangerous occupations such as meat and poultry slaughtering, processing, rendering and packing operations. According to the Labor Department, Fayette Janitorial had minors "clean dangerous kill floor equipment such as head splitters, jaw pullers, meat bandsaws, and neck clippers."
'We'll Be Back,' Says UAW Chief Shawn Fain After 'Tough Loss' in Alabama by Jessica Corbett
May 7, 2024
Introduction:
(Common Dreams) Workers at a pair of Mercedes-Benz plants near Tuscaloosa, Alabama narrowly voted against joining the United Auto Workers this week, according to a preliminary tally on Friday.
As of press time, the UAW webpage had the National Labor Relations Board tally at 2,045 in favor of joining the union (45%) and 2,642 opposed (56%).
Voting at the large facility in Vance and the battery plant in Woodstock kicked off Monday and wrapped up Friday morning. Speaking to reporters Friday evening, UAW president Shawn Fain said that it was "obviously not the result we wanted" but "we'll be back in Vance."
"These courageous workers reached out to us because they wanted justice," Fain said of the Mercedes employees. "They led us. They led this fight, and that's what this is all about—and what happens next is up to them."
"Justice isn't just about one vote or one campaign, it's about getting a voice and getting your fair share," he continued, noting that "workers won serious gains in this campaign."
Retired New York City Teachers Rise and Run by Jenny Brown
May 20, 2024
Introduction:
(Labor Notes) They’ve really stepped in it. The incumbent Unity Caucus that runs the huge teachers union in New York City is facing a challenge from the Retiree Advocate slate who hope to take leadership of the powerful 70,000-person retiree chapter within the union. Ballots were mailed May 10 and will be counted June 14.
The rallying issue has been the United Federation of Teachers’ collusion with the city to put municipal retirees, including retired teachers, into a for-profit Medicare Advantage plan run by Aetna. The plan would replace their traditional Medicare, which is provided premium-free along with a cost-free wraparound.
Leaders of the UFT and AFSCME’s District Council 37, who dominate the city’s Municipal Labor Committee, tried to railroad the plan through in 2021, crushing objections from 26 smaller unions in the 102-union bargaining bloc. They hoped to fill a $600 million funding gap, but the plan went awry when retirees exposed it.
The fight has mobilized retirees across the city, from firefighters to sanitation workers to teachers. Courts and the city council have refused to approve the change, and for three years the city has appealed court decisions, with the support of the dominant MLC unions. The plan has not been implemented, and appeals continue.
RUBBER STAMP?
In the teachers union, these events have caused a sea change. Retirees are full UFT members and can vote in leadership elections. In the past, their substantial vote went to incumbents. “Retired teachers are used as a reliable rubber stamp for Unity Caucus,” said Bennett Fischer, who is running for Chapter Leader of the Retired Teacher Chapter. “Now they have a big worry on their minds.”
Accusing Mercedes of 'Wanton Lawlessness,' UAW Seeks New Alabama Vote by Jessica Corbett
May 24, 2024
Introduction:
(Common Dreams) The United Auto Workers on Friday formally challenged last week's election loss at a pair of Mercedes-Benz facilities in Alabama, accusing the company of engaging in "an unprecedented, illegal anti-union campaign" and requesting a new vote.
"All these workers ever wanted was a fair shot at having a voice on the job and a say in their working conditions," the UAW said in a statement. "And that's what we're asking for here. Let's get a vote at Mercedes in Alabama where the company isn't allowed to fire people, isn't allowed to intimidate people, and isn't allowed to break the law and their own corporate code, and let the workers decide."
Of the more than 5,000 employees at the two Mercedes-Benz United States International (MBUSI) plants, 2,045 (45%) voted to join the UAW and 2,642 (56%) voted against it. After the ballots were counted, union president Shawn Fain said that it was "obviously not the result we wanted" but "we'll be back."
The UAW complaint to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) accusing MBUSI of "wanton lawlessness" echoes the union and workers' previous allegations that the company engaged in illegal union-busting at the Vance and Woodstock facilities, which led to ongoing reviews from U.S. and German authorities.
On January 11, 2024, employees of MBUSI publicly announced that they were exploring forming a union with the UAW at MBUSI's facilities," says the new complaint, according to Alabama Reflector. "Almost immediately thereafter, both prior to and during the election period, the employer engaged in a relentless anti-union campaign marked with unlawful discipline, unlawful captive audience meetings, and a general goal of coercing and intimidating employees who were attempting to exercise their Section 7 rights."
Biden's Dealmaker: How Julie Su Helped Broker a Union Contract in Hostile South by Emily Peck
May 30, 2024
Introduction:
(Axios) Acting Labor Department secretary Julie Su just helped secure a labor contract for more than 1,500 newly unionized workers at a school bus manufacturer in Georgia — a region typically hostile to unionization.
Why it matters: The contract at Blue Bird Corp., ratified last week, shows how the administration's pro-labor stance, along with the money pouring in from its signature legislation, is changing how some U.S. businesses operate.
The big picture: Su's been actively involved in several key labor negotiations over the past few years — from West Coast port workers to health care employees at Kaiser Permanente to the UAW's talks last year.
• This contract is smaller. Blue Bird Corp. is a 97-year-old publicly traded company lately focused on electric vehicles, as the bipartisan infrastructure law has boosted demand.
• The White House says the deal demonstrates that the transition to a green economy doesn't have to come at workers' expense. Former President Trump told striking autoworkers last year that the EV transition amounted to "a government assassination of your jobs."
• "We have to make sure we have a future of clean air and a future of good union jobs," Su tells Axios in an exclusive interview.
In One of the Most Dangerous Workplaces in West Virginia, a Poultry Giant has Profited from Immigrant Labor for Decades by Allen Siegler
June 10, 2024
Introduction:
(Investigate Midwet) MOOREFIELD, West Virginia — On a rainy afternoon in 2020, Pilgrim’s Pride’s West Virginia chicken factory was dirty.
The slaughterhouse has sharp metal hooks, deboning knives and conveyor belts. The machinery butchers over a million live birds every week and is constantly covered with animal grime.
That day, dozens of sanitation workers, many of them Hispanic and many of them immigrants, were washing the machines in the plant owned by Hardy County’s largest employer. A Puerto Rican man was kneeling to clean a conveyor belt when it unexpectedly turned on.
The machine latched on to his work jacket, and pulled. The man cried ou“It was really bad, something ugly,” said Marco, a man from Mexico also cleaning the slaughterhouse that day.t in agony.
“It was really bad, something ugly,” said Marco, a man from Mexico also cleaning the slaughterhouse that day.
East Coast Dockworkers Halt Labor Talks Amid Looming Strike Threat June 10, 2024
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(SupplyChainBrain) The International Longshoreman's Association (ILA) says that it has halted labor talks, in protest over the use of automated machinery at a handful of ports.
The ILA — representing more than 40,000 East Coast and Gulf Coast dockworkers — and the United Maritime Alliance (USMX) were scheduled to start negotiations on June 11. But the ILA called off the talks when it found out that an autonomous system was being used by Maersk and its terminal operator APM Terminals to process trucks at the Port of Mobile, Alabama, among other unnamed ports. The ILA claims that the use of the so-called "auto gate" system violates its existing agreement with the USMX, and that it will not pick up labor talks again until the issue is resolved.
“There’s no point trying to negotiate a new agreement with USMX when one of its major companies continues to violate our current agreement with the sole aim of eliminating ILA jobs through automation,” ILA chief negotiator Harold Daggett said in a June 10 news release.
Although the USMX has declined to comment on the situation, APM Terminals has asserted that it is "in full compliance" with the union's contract, according to the The Wall Street Journal.
Automation has long been a sticking point for dockworker unions on both coasts in the U.S., over worries that the proliferation of the technology could threaten jobs. In the meantime, the ILA and USMX have until September 30 to reach a new labor agreement, and if they don't, Daggett has previously stated that the ILA would go on strike.
Supreme Court Ruling in Starbucks Case Curbs Labor Regulation
Source: New York Times
The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Starbucks on Thursday in a challenge against a labor ruling by a federal judge, making it more difficult for a key federal agency to intervene when a company is accused of illegally suppressing labor organizing.
Eight justices backed the majority opinion, which was written by Justice Clarence Thomas. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote a separate opinion concurring with parts of the majority opinion, dissenting from other portions and agreeing with the overall judgment.
The ruling came in a case brought by Starbucks over the firing of seven workers in Memphis who were trying to unionize a store in 2022. The company said it had fired them for allowing a television crew into a closed store, while the workers said that they were fired for their unionization efforts and that the company didn’t typically enforce the rules they were accused of violating.
After the firings, the National Labor Relations Board issued a complaint saying that Starbucks had acted because the workers had “joined or assisted the union and engaged in concerted activities, and to discourage employees from engaging in these activities.” Separately, lawyers for the board asked a federal judge in Tennessee for an injunction reinstating the workers, and the judge issued the order in August 2022.
