Poultry Processors Push for Unregulated Line Speeds While Shuttering Plants, Laying Off Workers

Sabrina Novotny

The National Chicken Council, a capitalist poultry lobbying firm, is pushing the USDA to permanently increase the line-speed at poultry plants, currently capped at 140 birds per minute. A recent study by the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) tested how a line-speed increase would affect the health of poultry workers by allowing participating facilities to work at 175 birds per minute. Their study found that 81% of poultry-processing workers had an increased risk of musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) and 70% of workers reported experiencing moderate to severe work-related pain within their first three months of hire.

Workers perform repetitive movements at higher speeds to meet these rates in increasingly dangerous work environments in order to maximize production for capitalists. Slaughterhouse workers experience carpal tunnel syndrome, a type of MSD, at a rate seven times higher than the national average.

While following their study, the FSIS recommended increasing staffing to mitigate the impact of this repetitive work, meatpacking plants across the country are shutting down and laying off thousands of workers. Recently, Perdue Farms announced that it will close its processing plant in Monterey, TN, which currently employs 433 workers. The company cites “modernization” of its supply chain as the reason for the closure and workers report being told it was due to “adverse market conditions.”

The simultaneous push for deregulation of line speed and mass layoffs exposes how capitalists shift the burden of economic crises onto workers. In food processing and other industries, capitalists destroy overproduced means of production, ramp up work tempos, and cut jobs to depress wages and intensify exploitation of the remaining workforce. This is underscored by recent Department of Justice investigations into food processors for the illegal use of child labor.

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