Poultry Plants in Widespread Violation of Federal Law, Finds DOL

Despite national media attention, federal fines and outcries from religious and labor groups over the past several years, the poultry industry has violated more federal laws than they violated three years ago, according to the U.S. Department of Labor's (DOL) Wage and Hour Division.

The DOL survey of the industry revealed that the violations in specific areas have worsened since the first poultry survey in 1997.

The 2000 DOL survey found:

• 100% of plants surveyed failed to pay workers for all hours worked.
• 65% of workers were improperly denied overtime
  wages.
• 35% of poultry workers had illegal deductions taken from their paychecks.

The 1997 survey revealed that 60 percent of those surveyed violated wage and hour laws.

Through the National Interfaith Committee's National Poultry Justice Campaign, launched in 1996, religious leaders and community activists have reached out to support and inform poultry workers in North Carolina, the Delmarva Peninsula, Georgia, Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky and Texas.

There are more than 250,000 poultry workers in the U.S., the majority of whom are African-American women and Latino immigrants. Average wages for full-time workers are some of the lowest industrial wages in the country.

For more information on the efforts of Interfaith Worker Justice contact Elisabeth Solomon, Public Policy Director.