This looks to be a blockbuster story. It’s so appalling there’s almost nothing I can add. Here are some key paragraphs, but the whole article is a must-read:
Since the late 1970s, Henry’s Turkey Service has been shipping mentally retarded men from Texas to Iowa to work in the West Liberty plant. Henry’s has acted as the workers’ employer, landlord and caregiver — paying the men a reduced wage for their work at the plant and then deducting from their pay the cost of room, board and care. Payroll records indicate the men are left with as little as $65 per month in salary.
“My God, this is an embarrassment to the state of Iowa,” said Sylvia Piper of Iowa Protection and Advocacy, a federally funded group that oversees services for the disabled. “This should not be happening in our state.”
Typically, their days began at 2:30 a.m., when they were awakened. At 4:30 a.m., they were taken into the still-dark yard and loaded into passenger vans for the six-mile drive to the West Liberty plant. Once there, they donned protective clothing and went to work “on the line,” cleaning turkeys. Gene Berg, a 53-year-old cancer patient, has worked there as a “gut puller.” Billy and Robert Penner, two brothers in their 60s, have pulled guts and plucked feathers.
State officials say the 21 men who were at the bunkhouse Saturday have worked for Henry’s for at least 20 years. Keith Brown, 57, has lived there since 1979. His sister, Sherri Brown, said her brother has $80 in the bank after working 30 years for Henry’s.
Kenneth J. Henry, who runs Henry’s Turkey Service, declined to comment. “I’m not going to answer any of your questions,” he told The Des Moines Register on Friday.
Time and again, the most despicable employment practices are found in the meat industry. Link. (Thanks, Bea.)
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