Veganism = Economic Justice
Which U.S. industry treats workers so badly that Human Rights Watch wrote a paper on it? Slaughterhouses and meat packing companies.
Meatpacking and poultry workers…perform the most dangerous factory jobs in the country. U.S. meat and poultry employers put workers at predictable risk of serious physical injury even though the means to avoid such injury are known and feasible. – From Meatpacking’s Human Toll, Lance Compa and Jamie Fellner, August 2, 20051 (http://www NULL.hrw NULL.org/en/news/2005/08/02/meatpackings-human-toll)
In 2005, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) division of the Department of Homeland Security together with other agencies, raided the Agriprocessors Inc. slaughterhouse and packing plant in Postville, IA, and found widespread labor abuses, including many child labor law violations:
The once-silent workers of Agriprocessors now tell of a host of abusive practices, of rampant injuries and of exhausted children as young as 13 wielding knives on the killing floor. A young man said in an affidavit that he started at 16, in 17-hour shifts, six days a week. “I was very sad, and I felt like I was a slave.”2 (http://www NULL.nytimes NULL.com/2008/08/01/opinion/01fri1 NULL.html)
Postville is also notorious for the 2004 video showing its employees ripping the windpipes out of living, conscious cows, a not only unconscionable act of cruelty, but a violation of the Humane Methods of Livestock Slaughter Act.3 (http://www NULL.peta NULL.org/b/thepetafiles/archive/tags/Agriprocessors/default NULL.aspx)
It’s clear that the meat, dairy and egg industries are terrible for everyone involved but the owners – and that’s one reason vegans stand in solidarity with our sisters and brothers fighting for democracy, labor rights and economic justice.
Another is that many of us are ourselves union members.
Justice on the streets AND on your plate.
