Non-veganism and workers’ rights are incompatible
Non-vegans often bring up the exploited farm workers who pick fruits and vegetables are concerned about workers’ rights. Vegans usually dismiss it as just another excuse (since that is usually the only reason they bring it up), but agriculture workers definitely are one of the most exploited and marginalized people in the world (and there is over 1 billion of them). More than half of them live in poverty.
We can help by supporting worker advocacy organizations and labor unions (for example: the Coalition of Immokalee Workers is a coalition of farmworkers working low-wage jobs in the state of Florida and is responsible for advocating farmworker rights), by buying from known local farms, buying fair trade and by helping educate others about this.
Of course this includes slaughterhouse workers. There is over half a million of them in the US alone. More than 38% of the workers were born outside the US. Most workers are “at-will” employees, meaning they can be easily fired at a supervisor’s discretion. The threat of termination discourages workers from reporting safety concerns, injuries, or other serious issues.
And obviously, these conditions can be improved, and we can help as described above.
Below are some excerpts from the RSPCA welfare standards. And this time I’m not asking you to put yourself in the position of the non-human animal. Rather put yourself in the position of the worker and try to imagine what it is like to do this type of thing day after day. This is a work day for a slaughterhouse worker when everything is up to code and going smoothly.
Slaughter of dairy cattle
Cattle must be stuck using a sharp knife at least 12cm/5 inches long. An incision must be made in the jugular furrow at the base of the neck, directing the knife towards the entrance to the chest to sever the major blood vessels. Blood loss from the cattle must be rapid and profuse.
Two knives must be used; the first to open the skin and the second to sever the arteries. After incision of the blood vessels, there must be no further dressing procedure performed on the animal for at least 30 seconds, and in any case until all brain-stem reflexes have ceased. Where one person is responsible for the stunning, shackling, hoisting and bleeding of cattle, they must complete all these operations on each individual animal in turn.
Slaughter of pregnant cattle
Any foetus in the last third of gestation, or suspected of being in the last third of gestation, must not be removed from the maternal carcase until at least 5 minutes after maternal sticking, but preferably between 20-30 minutes after the dam is dead in order to ensure that the foetus does not gasp and start to breathe air. If, for any reason, a foetus is found to be showing signs of life upon removal from the uterus (i.e. a foetus that has gasped and is now conscious), it must be immediately killed with an appropriate captive bolt or by a blow to the head with a suitable blunt instrument.
Where a bird should be culled immediately, e.g. where suffering would be prolonged if left until disposed of by the normal method, it must be:
killed by dislocation of the neck using a procedure that ensures severance of all the major blood vessels and spinal cord and then placed in a macerator immediately.
Here are a few things former slaughterhouse workers have said:
“Working at the slaughterhouse is a big regret but being homeless was my only incentive to work there. The conditions were awful, the smell was awful, I couldn’t tell people where I worked, it was an awful job.”
“You might not be killing each animal, but you are sending them to their death, or handling their corpses shortly after.”
“The pigs were the worst, they knew what was happening. They would arrive at the slaughterhouse and the noise was terrible, they would squeal constantly and try at every step to escape. [...] The pigs, they were the ones that made you feel the worst, they knew.”
“The fear has its own scent. It's not something I could put into words, but even now, I would recognize it.”
“I was desperate and needed this job, it’s a job that although I was there just under a year has always bothered me. I have been in the military and had other jobs but this one stays with you. I was offered the job back while at college and rejected it. I think some of my co-workers were borderline psychopaths. They would bully the new staff and pick them up and throw them in the blood bath as an initiation? I was assaulted by two different slaughter men during my time there.”
"I don't even see an argument about it being violent any more. By definition, violence [is] a physical action with intent to harm, injure or kill something or someone. There's no argument there. It's exactly violence. I and others have justified that or minimized that for a very long time."
My question for non-vegans: how can you ever improve slaughterhouse work conditions so much that you’re able to justify forcing a fellow human being to do this kind of (unnecessary) work for you?
