Denied bathroom breaks, poultry workers are forced to wear diapers on job

The workers who process poultry meat work under so much pressure that they are regularly denied bathroom breaks and are forced to wear diapers, according to a report from the humanitarian group Oxfam America.

The report, named “No Relief: Denial of Bathroom Breaks in the Poultry Industry,” gives us the picture of discomfort and humiliation that the workers face, which includes wearing diaper daily, urinating where they stand, suffering from bladder infection and reducing water intake in order to avoid going to bathroom.

“It’s not just their dignity that suffers: they are in danger of serious health problems,” said Oxfam America, the U.S. arm of the U.K.-based global development group.

As per the report, the workers work under so much pressure while handling the chickens that they are forced to defecate and pee where they stand.

People would be shocked to know that their chicken is organic and antibiotic-free, but that the workers who handle the chicken were compelled to soil themselves or wear diapers in order to keep their job,” Debbie Berkowitz, an expert quoted in the report, told The Huffington Post.

For the report Oxfam America paired with worker centers to interview dozens of former and current poultry workers from all over the country.

I’ve seen people pee on the line — and sometimes when they’re running to get to the bathroom, women pee on themselves,” one Arkansas worker says in the report.

Once he also saw a man urinate and defecate on himself at the same time.

A survey of 266 worker in Alabama revealed that almost 80% of workers couldn’t go the restroom went needed and that figure was as high as 86 percent in Minnesota, the report claimed.

(Photo: Screen grab)

The report states that the reason for unhygienic condition was that the surpervisior wants to keep the production as fast as possible and hence they refuse bathroom breaks. In fact, people are also punished for asking breaks too often, hence people try to control as much as they can.

The report also highlights that even if they are given break, the time isn’t enough for them to remove and put back their safety equipments.

Industry trade group the National Chicken Council told The Huffington Post that it was 'troubled' by the report's remarks, but said that 'a handful of anonymous claims' were not enough to generalize about the entire industry.

“We believe such instances are extremely rare and that US poultry companies work hard to prevent them,” it said.

The report concluded that the poultry job as per its nature is too demanding and exhausting. But also added that, “it does not have to be dehumanizing, and it does not have to rob people of their dignity and health.”

The report called upon four major producers like Tyson Foods, Perdue and Sanderson Farms- America's and Pilgrim’s who have more than 100,000 employees and asked them to set a standard rule so the nation could follow.

In response Tyson said that it couldn’t investigate the claim due to limited information provided in the report and promised that 'Restroom breaks are not restricted to scheduled work breaks and can be taken at any time.'

Perdue said that, “The anecdotes reported are not consistent with [our] policies and practices... Unfortunately, we do not have enough information to investigate the validity of these complaints.”