this post was submitted on 03 May 2024
161 points (98.8% liked)

News

23284 readers
3706 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

The wage settlement is one of the largest ever reached for U.S. poultry workers.

The owners and operators of a network of California poultry processors and distributors were ordered to pay $4.8 million in back wages and damages and to give up $1 million in profits after a Department of Labor investigation found the owners illegally employed children as young as 14 to work dangerous jobs.

The wage settlement is one of the largest ever reached for U.S. poultry workers, the DOL said in a statement.

The investigation by the department's Wage and House Division involving A1 Meat Solutions, JRC Culinary Group, Moon Poultry and five other businesses alleged that the enterprise employed children in dangerous conditions, including using sharp knives to debone poultry.

Additionally, investigators found the employers and their associates denied poultry workers and packers overtime wages and falsified payroll records to obstruct the probe, the DOL said. Supervisors at the employers' facilities also allegedly retaliated against workers once the investigation began in January 2024, calling them derogatory slurs and changing terms of employment, investigators said.

top 11 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] oDDmON@lemmy.world 37 points 6 months ago

Wage theft from children; those’re some real scumbags.

[–] Hegar@kbin.social 23 points 6 months ago

I was so disgusted by this frankly piss-weak judgement that I tracked down the press release: https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/whd/whd20240502

The media contacts are: carnevali.jose@dol.gov and petersen.michael.w@dol.gov

I sent them the following email:

I was absolutely disgusted to hear of the paltry fines issued to the network of poultry processors guilty of wage theft, falsifying records, obstructing the investigation and obvious child endangerment.

How can you possibly allow these bad actors to remain in business and find new ways to profit from risking children's lives and safety?

It's unconscionable that no jail time was mandated.

If this counts as a win, it only goes to show that the DOL is toothless and incapable of protecting American workers from predatory employers.

[–] xmunk@sh.itjust.works 21 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Bucket, meet drop.

Send the executives to fucking jail.

[–] Hegar@kbin.social 5 points 6 months ago

If the kids parents' did the same thing they'd be in jail. Turns out abusive parents should just incorporate that way child endangerment laws no longer apply.

[–] PugJesus@kbin.social 16 points 6 months ago

4.8 million is one of the largest ever reached for US poultry workers?

No wonder this shit keeps happening.

[–] Reverendender@sh.itjust.works 7 points 6 months ago

It's absolutely awful, and the fine is disgustingly small, and the executives and owners should be jailed for several years. That said, learning how to debone a chicken at age 14 is a skill that will serve them well for the rest of their lives, and 14 is definitely not too young to be learning this. When I was 14 I worked at an Au Bon Pain. I used sharp knives all the time, and I was constant around very hot equipment like ovens and coffee brewers. It was a great job, I had to work very hard, I learned a ton, and they let me take home all the leftover pastries I wanted. Also no one stole my wages, so fuck these chicken criminals.

[–] Ultragigagigantic@lemmy.world 6 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Revoke their corporate charter. Their ability to continue doing business should be taken away. Forever.

To bad we can only vote for cowards and shitters

[–] bhmnscmm@lemmy.world 4 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (2 children)

But don't they always say sharp knives are more safe than dull knives?

[–] Illegalmexicant@lemmy.world 1 points 6 months ago

I wish my wife learned some knife skills as a child. She's not allowed to cut cheese anymore.

[–] tal@lemmy.today 1 points 6 months ago

Yeah, I was gonna say...that's rather better than the alternative.

[–] lanigerous@feddit.uk -1 points 6 months ago

Aside from the all of the absolute horror, that is an amazing headline