| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 4, 2000 |
|
|
PERDUE CHICKEN CATCHERS STAND UP FOR A VOICE ON THE JOB Perdue's chicken catchers have been the unseen, unrecognized workforce that fuels the Delmarva poultry industry. For nearly a decade, Perdue has treated its chicken catchers as if they weren't employees, denying catchers the federal minimum wage, health benefits or overtime compensation. Today, over one hundred chicken catchers are standing up and telling Perdue, we demand a voice on the job. On the heels of a recent court victory, Perdue's chicken catchers have organized for a voice on the job with the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 27. With labor, religious and community leaders behind them, Perdue catchers caravanned to the Perdue headquarters today and hand-delivered a message to Jimmy Perdue demanding that the company recognize the catcher's chosen representative--UFCW Local 27. "The strong majority of Perdue catchers on the Eastern Shore have made it clear that we have chosen the UFCW Local 27 to be our union. Perdue should do the right thing and immediately schedule negotiations with us and our union," said Raymond White, a Perdue catcher from the Accomac, Virginia plant and lead organizer among the 170 Perdue catchers. Willie Baker, Director of UFCW Region 2-Mid Atlantic addressed Perdue, "Your indifference to these workers must end today. The catchers have made their voices heard in favor of UFCW representation. From this day forward, 1.5 million UFCW members are mobilizing to educate consumers about Perdue's treatment of its catcher. Perdue should do what is morally right and immediately recognize the catcher's right to organize." The Delmarva community is strongly behind the Perdue catchers' efforts to get a voice on the job. On Sunday, April 30, 2000, the Delmarva Poultry Justice Alliance hosted a rally in support of the catchers' campaign - with civil rights, religious, and labor leaders speaking out for their right to organize for a better workplace. In a lawsuit filed by the catchers through the Public Justice Center, U.S. District Court in Maryland ruled in February that Perdue had "willfully" violated state and federal wage and hour overtime laws by denying catchers proper compensation for the long overtime hours they work. Catching chickens is a hard, dirty job. Reporting for work in the middle of the night, catchers work in crews, collecting more than 50,000 chickens per shift by hand, and tossing the birds into crates for transport to the slaughter plant. The chicken houses are sweltering hot and the air is thick with the stench of ammonia and dust from the floor. Catchers earn between $1.85 and $4.10 per one thousand birds caught. An average work day is between 12 and 14 hours. Perdue attempted to shirk responsibility for the catchers by instituting a crew system in 1991. Catchers were forced to work in crews, with Perdue paying the crew leader as an "independent contractor." The crew system left catchers with no overtime compensation, no health insurance, no vacation time and no regular wage increases. Again, the U.S. District Court of Maryland found that despite this crew system, the catchers are clearly Perdue employees and therefore eligible for protection under federal wage and hour laws. Now, catchers have organized for a collective voice at the bargaining table with Perdue through the UFCW--the largest poultry worker organization in the U.S. "The catchers have taken their story to the public and to powerful elected officials. Every time, people's response is the same--no one in America should have to work under those conditions without a voice to make it better. Perdue must do the right thing and accept the UFCW as the union for Perdue chicken catchers," said Buddy Mays, President of UFCW Local 27. Mr. White and several dozen catchers presented testimony to five Members of Congress on the Eastern Shore last year at a Congressional Visitation sponsored by the Delmarva Poultry Justice Alliance (DPJA). "The faith community is prepared to work with the UFCW to reach out to consumers with the catchers' stories, if that is what it takes to get these workers a union contract with Perdue. When the public learns what humans have endured to bring Perdue chicken to their dinner table, they may turn away from Perdue products at the grocery store," said the Rev. Jim Lewis of the Sussex County Mission of the Episcopal Church and Chair of the DPJA. The UFCW, with 1.5 million members, is the largest poultry worker organization in the U.S. and represents poultry plant workers and catchers throughout the country. |
|
 |
 |
