BIG CHICKEN
by Alessandra Mazza

Each one of us could consider our self a slave, in that we are all tormented by something, internally or externally, that pacifies or limits us. A slave is not a brown-skinned person working on a plantation for a family of white-skinned people anymore; the word has changed in use. Not entirely, however, it still retains a sado-masochistic aura, but these are the '90's. America is a nation of liberal-minded, happily-advantaged individuals, right? Women can vote, African-Americans hold office alongside people of Asian descent, etc. Slave is a word that belongs in history texts and casual, meaningless slang.

These days, most Americans don't have a slave to work for free at their home, cook their meals, clean their house and watch their children. The social climate makes that idea an unacceptable one and for good reason. Instead, however, we prefer to be more inconspicuous in our dealings with slave labor. It's called denial.

Living in an individualistic society, we struggle to retain whatever shreds of being we can, before being trampled by the mass culture or swallowed by corporate conformity. This often blinds us to the situations around us. Not to mention the diversity of the country and the specialization of labor in the work force, which demands more and more life energy and concentration. We literally don't have the time to worry about where the food on our plate comes from. Or, for that matter, who raised the chicken in our sandwich. I recently met with Reverend Jim Lewis, who runs La Esperanza in Georgetown, Delaware, an organization dedicated to organizing and educating people and communities about the poultry industry in order to create better conditions for poultry workers. The poultry industry? Yes, the poultry industry. Reverend Lewis calls it the Big Chicken, for he knows its dealings intimately. He explained to me the process of how chicken gets to one's dining table.

A poultry company, such as Perdue, hires growers who raise the chickens. When the chickens are grown, Perdue then decides whether or not they will buy them. If they decide not to, the farmer, or grower, loses thousands of dollars. It the chickens are bought by the company, they are then put in boxes (people called catchers grab 5-6 chickens per hand and throw them into a box), and brought to the company. From that point on, the chickens are put through the rigorous process of being killed, de-feathered, de-boned, cut up, etc. This is done by the workers in the factory. Who wants to spend all day cutting up chickens? Especially on a line where 90 chickens are running past you per minute. Granted, it is hard to find a job one can enjoy and feel satisfied with the work, but the conditions poultry workers are under seem to be more akin to slave labor than a bad job.

Rev. Lewis outlined the conditions of work in the poultry industry: $7.00 per hour and losing fingers and limbs on the job are usual occurrences. For a billions-of-dollars a year (and growing) industry, why are the workers expected to tolerate such conditions? They are not allowed work at a pace they can handle. They are not provided their own safety goggles, gloves, etc.

It seems very strange. Rev. Lewis also explained that it is very hard to get in contact with managers of the plants, citing that they will do anything to keep you from entering. So, I called two of the plants in the town₁ asking to talk to the Human Resources Department of each plant I could not get past the secretary, no matter how many calls I made. The managers were either in a meeting," out to lunch (at l0am), or on the phone." So, I went to the Perdue plant. I had to give my driver's license to the outside security guard just to get in the door. Once inside, I could not go past the office. The secretary there said that all the managers were in a meeting, and to call later. I gave up.

Rev. Lewis referred me to some poultry workers. I went to visit George (not his real name), with an interpreter whom I had met through a labor union office in town. George lived in a small apartment which he shared with several other people. He was very nervous talking with mehe didn't want the company he works for to find out. He explained that immigrants are coming to the U.S. from Central America because there are no jobs, money, schools, hospitals, etc... there. When I asked him about the conditions of his work, without hesitating he said that they (the workers) are exploited. They are discriminated against by the managers, made to do the hardest jobs, and aren't paid right. He compared the plant to a Communist country or the military. What seemed to me to be the most direct example of inhumanity, was his description of their inability to walk away from the line. George said that when workers have to use the bathroom, they must ask permission from a manager, and usually aren't allowed to--therefore, many workers must relieve themselves while standing at the line. The next and last person I met with was Juan a former poultry worker. Juan was very nice, funny and open. He lived in a small, fairly comfortable house that he shared with others. His room was covered in his art, drums, pipes, paintings, wood carvings, pastels, sketches, and painted rocks. In the factory in which he had worked, his job was to hang chickens, and he described his feelings while working there as being desperate and tired. He said he was treated badly, and pressured to work harder and faster. The factory had a contest, in which the workers were to draw a picture of how they viewed "Company Safety.Juan drew the picture below. When his managers saw it, they told him he could not enter it in the contest. I found this drawing, along with Juan's explanation of it, to be the most accurate description of the feelings of the workers.

The big chicken in the drawing represents the plan the neck being the machinery there, where the majority of the accidents happen. Juan explained that many people lose fingers, hands, etc... while working, yet the company doesn't care. The managers and supervisors are represented by the three men with the distorted, angry faces. Juan explained how the manager pressures the supervisor who, in turn, pressures the workers to work harder. The man in the drawing carrying a box, shows the stress the workers are under when regulations are broken. Any box weighing over 60 pounds is supposed to be carried by two people, however, often one worker is made to carry boxes weighing up to 150 pounds. The paper, held by the "monster," is work time. Often, people will work over 40 hours a week at the factories, and get a paycheck for 38 or 39 hours of work. When they would complain, the managers would give them the run around. The monster represents the confusion the workers feel about this; no one understands why they're not being paid correctly. The broken key is the entrance to the plant. Juan explained: "You have the key to security in your hands, but for us it's broken.

From my experience with this group, I found these circumstances to be eerily comparable to slavery. It is not only evident within the poultry industry, but is very widespread in other factory work here in America. Factories advertise in Central America, and then exploit these people's cultural "naivete" to save money. It is a strange contrast: the United States' policies on immigration and effort to keep particularly Central Americans from crossing the border, versus large business' drive to bring them into the work force for virtual slave labor. At the same time, many Americans know little about how for instance the chicken they eat gets to their dining table.