20th Century opposition to 21st Century Innovation
In a scathing op-ed in The Hill, Georgia’s 9th Congressman Doug Collins tries to explain to some liberals that it is actually 2017 and not 1906. At issue is a proposal to increase the line speed in poultry processing plants in the U.S. and Collins minces no words when describing the rationale of those opposing the proposal:
Not much has changed since 1906, when Upton Sinclair dropped his magnum opus on a world in the throes of industrialization. At least, that’s the picture that liberals like Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) are propagating: Big business is forcing poultry workers to brave conditions straight out of “The Jungle,” and “any attempt to increase line speeds” at poultry plants would erode food and worker safety.
Representative Collins continues:
Liberals appropriate the stories of individual poultry employees without disclosing that they don’t actually work on the lines in question here. They jettison a host of scientific data because it is inconvenient to their narrative of doom, gloom and righteous indignation.
I would guess that the next time Congressman Collins appears on Mountain Mornings radio show I don’t need to ask him how he really feels about the opposition to increasing line speeds in poultry processing plants.
About Author
IrishPat
Patrick Malone is a Business Advisor and Leadership Mentor headquartered in Blairsville, Georgia. He co-hosts Mountain Daybreak and Mountain Mornings, weekday news programs, and hosts This Week in Blairsville a weekend program on WJUL/WJRB. He is a mentor in Union County High School, serves on his church council and writes a monthly column on leadership in the animal healthcare industry.
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OK I’ll bite.
I don’t know much about this subject but I can at least offer some counterpoint.
Collins says: Poultry plants exist in two distinct sections—one for first processing and one for second processing. Every petition to raise line speeds that I’m familiar with applies strictly to the first-processing zone… raising line speeds in the first area doesn’t require work speeds in the second area to increase.”
The letter he recently sent to Sonny Perdue requesting the line speed change makes no mention of these separate sections.
https://iqconnect.lmhostediq.com/iqextranet/view_newsletter.aspx?id=100655&c=GA09DC
Collins says: “the Department of Labor, which reports that the poultry industry’s 2015 illness and injury rate was 4.3 cases per 100 full-time workers compared to a rate of 4.7 cases for the food manufacturing sector at large.”
DeLauro responds: “… data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics that shows poultry workers had an injury rate nearly 50 percent higher than the national average and an illness rate seven times higher than any other industry. It also states that the poultry industry is 12th in the number of work-related hospitalizations and amputations.”
http://www.safetyandhealthmagazine.com/articles/15894-poultry-processing-line-speeds-back-in-the-spotlight
Also: “Evidence includes investigations by the CDC’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) on musculoskeletal injuries among poultry processing workers. I’ve written previously about these investigations, but to recap:
Among 191 workers at Amick Farms’ poultry processing plant in Hurlock, MD, 34 percent had carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), and 76 percent had evidence of nerve damage in their hands and wrists.
Among 375 workers at a Pilgrim’s Pride facility in South Carolina, 42 percent of workers had CTS.”
http://scienceblogs.com/thepumphandle/2017/05/25/georgia-congressman-resurrects-bad-idea-poultry-workers-threatened-with-faster-line-speeds/
There is also a question regarding the number of required inspectors and how well can they inspect at higher speeds, and who they are- USDA or company employees.
Collins also devalues his argument by repeatedly blaming “liberals” for trying to thwart his initiative . If you have a case to make sir, make without the partisan rancor. Perhaps there is way to satisfy everyone on this issue, but this reads more like a publicity stunt than an actual attempt to make progress.
Having said that, if it’s up to Sonny Perdue to make the decision, I don’t know why Collins even felt he had to bother with an op-ed.
The op-ed seems more ‘fevered’ than ‘scathing’. Collins is so concerned about the economics-demonizing, innovation-shunning, science-hating liberals that yes, even now, deny Americans the benefits of faster chicken slaughter that I forgot for a moment which party controls policy making these days.