Editing Slaughterhouse (section)

==Worker exploitation concerns==
{{Split section|date=May 2024}}

===Slaughterhouse mortality impact===
American slaughterhouse workers are three times more likely to suffer serious injury than the average American worker.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/meatpacking/index.html |title=Meatpacking |website=Occupational Safety and Health Administration |access-date=23 May 2019}}</ref> [[NPR]] reports that pig and cattle slaughterhouse workers are nearly seven times more likely to suffer [[Repetitive strain injury|repetitive strain injuries]] than average.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/08/11/489468205/working-the-chain-slaughterhouse-workers-face-lifelong-injuries |title=Working 'The Chain,' Slaughterhouse Workers Face Lifelong Injuries |last=Lowe  |first=Peggy |date=11 August 2016 |website=National Public Radio |access-date=23 May 2019}}</ref> ''[[The Guardian]]'' reports that on average there are two amputations a week involving slaughterhouse workers in the United States.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jul/05/amputations-serious-injuries-us-meat-industry-plant |title=Two amputations a week: the cost of working in a US meat plant  |date=5 July 2018 |website=The Guardian |access-date=23 May 2019}}</ref> On average, one employee of [[Tyson Foods]], the largest meat producer in America, is injured and amputates a finger or limb per month.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/coralewis/americas-largest-meat-producer-one-amputation-per-month#.pxxm3zY5Z |title=America's Largest Meat Producer Averages One Amputation Per Month |last=Lewis  |first=Cora |date=18 February 2018 |website=Buzzfeed News |access-date=23 May 2019}}</ref> The Bureau of Investigative Journalism reported that over a period of six years, in the [[UK]] 78 slaughter workers lost fingers, parts of fingers or limbs, more than 800 workers had serious injuries, and at least 4,500 had to take more than three days off after accidents.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2018-07-29/uk-meat-plant-injuries |title=Revealed: Shocking safety record of UK meat plants |date=29 July 2018 |website=The Bureau of Investigative Journalism  |access-date=23 May 2019}}</ref> In a 2018 study in the Italian Journal of Food Safety, slaughterhouse workers are instructed to wear ear protectors to protect their hearing from the loud noises in the facility.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Francesca Iulietto |first1=Maria |last2=Sechi |first2=Paola |date=3 July 2018 |title=Noise assessment in slaughterhouses by means of a smartphone app |journal=Italian Journal of Food Safety |volume=7 |issue=2 |pages=7053 |doi=10.4081/ijfs.2018.7053 |pmid=30046554 |pmc=6036995 }}</ref> A 2004 study in the ''Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine'' found that "excess risks were observed for mortality from all causes, all cancers, and lung cancer" in workers employed in the New Zealand meat processing industry.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=McLean |first1=D |last2=Cheng |first2=S |date=June 2004 |title=Mortality and cancer incidence in New Zealand meat workers |journal=Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine |volume=61 |issue=6 |pages=541–47 |doi=10.1136/oem.2003.010587 |pmid=15150395 |pmc=1763658 }}</ref>

===Psychological impact===

{{Cquote|The worst thing, worse than the physical danger, is the emotional toll. If you work in the stick pit [where hogs are killed] for any period of time{{snd}}that lets you kill things but doesn't let you care. You may look a hog in the eye that's walking around in the blood pit with you and think, "God, that really isn't a bad looking animal." You may want to pet it. Pigs down on the kill floor have come up to nuzzle me like a puppy. Two minutes later I had to kill them{{snd}}beat them to death with a pipe. I can't care.
|author=Gail A. Eisnitz
|source=<ref>{{cite book |last=Eisnitz |first=Gail A. |title=Slaughterhouse: : The Shocking Story of Greed, Neglect, And Inhumane Treatment Inside the U.S. Meat Industry |publisher=Prometheus Books |date=1997}}</ref>
}}

Slaughterhouse workers have a higher prevalence rate of mental health distress, including [[anxiety]], detachment, [[Depression (mood)|depression]], [[emotional numbing]], [[perpetrator trauma]], [[psychosocial distress]], and [[Post-traumatic stress disorder|PTSD]], violence-supportive attitudes, and an increased crime levels. Slaughterhouse workers have adaptive and maladaptive strategies to cope with the workplace environment and associated stressors.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Slade |first1=Jessica |last2=Alleyne |first2=Emma |author-link2=Emma Alleyne |date=April 2023 |title=The Psychological Impact of Slaughterhouse Employment: A Systematic Literature Review |journal=Trauma, Violence, & Abuse |volume=24 |issue=2 |pages=429–440 |doi=10.1177/15248380211030243 |pmc=10009492 |pmid=34231439}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Leibler |first1=JH |last2=Janulewicz |first2=PA |last3=Perry |first3=MJ |title=Prevalence of serious psychological distress among slaughterhouse workers at a United States beef packing plant. |journal=Work (Reading, Mass.) |date=2017 |volume=57 |issue=1 |pages=105–109 |doi=10.3233/WOR-172543 |pmid=28506017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Confessions of a slaughterhouse worker |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-50986683 |access-date=2 May 2024 |date=4 January 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Psychological Distress Among Slaughterhouse Workers Warrants Further Study |url=https://www.bu.edu/sph/news/articles/2017/psychological-distress-among-slaughterhouse-workers-warrants-further-study/ |access-date=2 May 2024 |work=Boston University}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Versloot |first1=Annelotte H.C. |last2=Jackson |first2=Jennie A. |last3=van Rijn |first3=Rogier M. |last4=Elbers |first4=Roy G. |last5=Søgaard |first5=Karen |last6=Macri |first6=Erin M. |last7=Koes |first7=Bart |last8=Burdorf |first8=Alex |last9=Chiarotto |first9=Alessandro |last10=Gerger |first10=Heike |title=Physical and psychosocial work-related exposures and the occurrence of disorders of the shoulder: A systematic review update |journal=Applied Ergonomics |date=July 2024 |volume=118 |pages=104277 |doi=10.1016/j.apergo.2024.104277|pmid=38579494 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=MacNair |first1=Rachel |title=How Should Clinicians Respond to Patients Experiencing Ongoing Present Traumatic Stress of Industrial Meat Production? |journal=AMA Journal of Ethics |date=1 April 2023 |volume=25 |issue=4 |pages=E251–255 |doi=10.1001/amajethics.2023.251 |pmid=37014719 |url=https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/how-should-clinicians-respond-patients-experiencing-ongoing-present-traumatic-stress-industrial-meat/2023-04 |access-date=2 May 2024|doi-access=free }}</ref>

Working at slaughterhouses often leads to a high amount of psychological trauma.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://yaleglobalhealthreview.com/2016/01/25/a-call-to-action-psychological-harm-in-slaughterhouse-workers/ |title=A Call to Action: Psychological Harm in Slaughterhouse Workers |last=Lebwohl  |first=Michael |date=25 January 2016 |website=The Yale Global Health Review |access-date=23 May 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://metro.co.uk/2017/12/31/how-killing-animals-everyday-leaves-slaughterhouse-workers-traumatised-7175087/ |title=The harrowing psychological toll of slaughterhouse work |last=Nagesh  |first=Ashitha |date=31 December 2017 |website=Metro |access-date=23 May 2019}}</ref> A 2016 study in ''Organization'' indicates, "Regression analyses of data from 10,605 Danish workers across 44 occupations suggest that slaughterhouse workers consistently experience lower physical and psychological well-being along with increased incidences of negative coping behavior."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Baran |first1=B. E. |last2=Rogelberg |first2=S. G. |last3=Clausen |first3=T |date=2016 |title=Routinized killing of animals: Going beyond dirty work and prestige to understand the well-being of slaughterhouse workers |journal=Organization |volume=23 |issue=3 |pages=351–69 |doi=10.1177/1350508416629456 |s2cid=148368906 }}</ref> A 2009 study by criminologist Amy Fitzgerald indicates, "slaughterhouse employment increases total arrest rates, arrests for violent crimes, arrests for rape, and arrests for other sex offenses in comparison with other industries."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Fitzgerald |first1=A. J. |last2=Kalof |first2=L. |date=2009 |title=Slaughterhouses and Increased Crime Rates: An Empirical Analysis of the Spillover From "The Jungle" Into the Surrounding Community  |journal=Organization & Environment |volume=22 |issue=2 |pages=158–84 |doi=10.1177/1350508416629456 |s2cid=148368906 |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1086026609338164 }}</ref> As authors from the PTSD Journal explain, "These employees are hired to kill animals, such as pigs and cows that are largely gentle creatures. Carrying out this action requires workers to disconnect from what they are doing and from the creature standing before them. This emotional dissonance can lead to consequences such as domestic violence, social withdrawal, anxiety, drug and alcohol abuse, and PTSD."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ptsdjournal.com/posts/the-psychological-damage-of-slaughterhouse-work/ |title=The Psychological Damage of Slaughterhouse Work |website=PTSDJournal |access-date=23 May 2019 }}</ref>

===Working conditions===
Starting in the 1980s, [[Cargill]], [[Conagra Brands]], Tyson Foods and other large food companies moved most slaughterhouse operations to rural areas of the [[Southern United States]] which were more hostile to unionization efforts.<ref>{{cite book |last= Nibert |first=David |editor1=Steven Best|editor2=Richard Kahn|editor3=Anthony J. Nocella II|editor4=Peter McLaren|editor1-link= Steven Best|editor4-link=Peter McLaren|authorlink=David Nibert |date=2011|title=The Global Industrial Complex: Systems of Domination|chapter=Origins and Consequences of the Animal Industrial Complex |publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield]] |page=205|url=https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780739136973/The-Global-Industrial-Complex-Systems-of-Domination |isbn=978-0739136980}}</ref> Slaughterhouses in the United States commonly illegally employ and exploit underage workers and undocumented immigrants.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-12-29/america-s-worst-graveyard-shift-is-grinding-up-workers |title=America's Worst Graveyard Shift Is Grinding Up Workers |last=Waldman  |first=Peter |date=29 December 2017 |website=Bloomberg Businessweek |access-date=23 May 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/05/08/exploitation-and-abuse-at-the-chicken-plant |title=Exploitation and Abuse at the Chicken Plant |last=Grabell  |first=Michael |date=1 May 2017 |magazine=The New Yorker |access-date=23 May 2019}}</ref> In 2010, [[Human Rights Watch]] described slaughterhouse line work in the United States as a human rights crime.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.hrw.org/report/2010/12/11/rights-line/human-rights-watch-work-abuses-against-migrants-2010 |title=Rights on the Line |journal=Human Rights Watch |date=11 December 2010 |access-date=23 May 2019|last1=Varia |first1=Nisha }}</ref> In a report by [[Oxfam America]], slaughterhouse workers were observed not being allowed breaks, were often required to wear diapers, and were paid below minimum wage.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.oxfamamerica.org/livesontheline/ |title=Live on the Live |last=Grabell  |first=Michael |website=Oxfam America |date=23 May 2018 |access-date=23 May 2019}}</ref>