The National Employment Law Project (NELP) yesterday released a new report claiming the poultry industry ranks as among the most dangerous. The report is based on recently-released injury data sent to the Department of Labor by workplaces between January 2015 through September 2016. The report’s author, Deborah Berkowitz, is a former OSHA staffer under the Obama administration and has held positions at the UFCW and AFL-CIO. In response to the report, NCC Senior Vice President of Communications released the following statement:
“This is cherry-picking of data in an effort to advance NELP’s and their allies’ agenda: the unionization of poultry plants.
“The fact is that the incidence of nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses in the poultry sector, which includes slaughter and processing, remains at an all-time low, according to the 2015 Injury and Illness Report by the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The total recordable poultry processing illness and injury rate for 2015 was 4.3 cases per 100 full-time workers (per year), the same rate as 2014, and lower than the 2015 rate of 4.7 for the entire food manufacturing sector.”
(To put that into a little perspective, 4.3 is the same injury and illness rate for workers at golf and country clubs.)
“Poultry processing’s 2015 rate of 4.3 represents an 81 percent decrease from 1994 (the oldest data available on the BLS website), when the recorded rate was 22.7, demonstrating the enormous progress the industry has made in improving safety for its workforce. The poultry industry is proud of the advancements in worker safety that have been made over the last 30+ years and the ongoing efforts for continued improvement. Our employees are our most important asset.”
