(C) Minnesota Reformer
This story was originally published by Minnesota Reformer and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
Faster line speeds put Minnesota meatpacking workers at risk • Minnesota Reformer [1]
['Julie Knopp', 'Gary Wertish', 'Aaron Brown', 'Frank Bibeau', 'More From Author', 'May', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow', 'Class', 'Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus', 'Display Inline']
Date: 2025-05-23
Minnesota is the second largest producer of hogs in the United States. With a population of roughly nine million, hogs outnumber humans here. Maybe that’s why, when I passed by a transport truck near a pork processing plant in Austin, Minnesota, I felt compelled to look inside.
As I peered through the slats, I locked eyes with one pig in particular. His body was covered in scratches. At only six months old, the typical age of slaughter in the pork industry, he was just minutes away from a brutal death.
What you may not realize is that the pork industry isn’t just a nightmare for hogs — it takes a tremendous toll on people, too. And right now, new policy stands to further endanger the health and safety of Minnesota’s roughly 17,000 meatpacking workers.
In March, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced it would allow slaughterhouses to permanently increase the speed of production. The USDA claims that the move eliminates “outdated administrative requirements that have slowed production and added unnecessary costs for American producers.”
Most meatpacking workers see faster line speeds as a direct threat to their health and safety on the job. Even before the threat of increased line speeds, meatpacking was one of the most dangerous jobs in the country, with some of the highest rates of workplace injury and illness across all industries. From 2013 to 2017, an average of eight workers per year died as a result of incidents in meatpacking plants.
More commonly, workers suffer from chronic musculoskeletal disorders caused by standing on the line for hours and repeating the same motions thousands of times a day. Carpal tunnel syndrome is especially common. Higher line speeds are likely to increase both the frequency and severity of these debilitating injuries.
The meatpacking industry relies heavily on workers from vulnerable populations, including immigrants and people with limited economic resources. This reality often leaves workers less likely to speak out about unsafe conditions or publicly advocate for labor rights.
Yet the situation has become so dire that, on April 17, hundreds of JBS meatpacking workers marched in shifts to speak out against increased line speeds and demand safer working conditions. This march marks the first demonstration of its kind at the Worthington plant in more than a decade.
Currently, JBS workers are processing more than 1,000 hogs per hour. Now, that rate could climb to more than 1,300. At some plants, like Quality Pork Processors in Austin, the faster pace is already a daily reality.
UFCW Local 663 — the union representing JBS workers in Worthington — is now in contract negotiations with JBS, advocating for conditions that would uphold safer line speeds and staffing levels.
“The decision to allow facilities to operate at higher speeds without any additional safety measures only puts workers and consumers at risk,” UFCW International President Marc Perrone said in a statement.
The courage of JBS meatpacking workers to march reflects just how grave their health and safety concerns have become in the face of faster line speeds. When meatpacking companies prioritize corporate profits over worker well-being, the results are devastating. Minnesota’s meatpacking plants now face a critical choice: they can continue down a path that sacrifices health and dignity for efficiency, or they can lead by maintaining or reducing line speeds to protect workers.
In a 2019 interview with Human Rights Watch, Ignacio Davalos, a worker at a Smithfield-owned hog plant in Nebraska, put it this way: “When we’re dead and buried, our bones will keep hurting.”
With enough pressure from unions and consumers, Minnesota meatpacking workers may have a fighting chance at their fundamental right to safety.
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://minnesotareformer.com/2025/05/23/faster-line-speeds-put-minnesota-meatpacking-workers-at-risk/
Published and (C) by Minnesota Reformer
Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons License CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/MnReformer/
