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writes, â[t]heyâre victims.â4 With limited training and for minimal
pay, grocery store clerks are quite literally putting their lives on the
line so that we can put food on the table. Tragically, many workplace
fatalities have been recorded.5
Inch by Inch, Row by Row: Exceptional Risks for Employees Working
Elbow to Elbow
It should come as no surprise that meat processing facilities are at the
epicentre of disease transmission in North America. Dangerous and
exploitative working conditions are well documented in North American
abattoirs, including injuries related to repetitive movements, holding
awkward postures for extended periods, and working in extreme tem-
peratures surrounded by fast-moving sharp instruments.6 Despite strong
union presence in abattoirs and advocacy for their members, many inci-
dents go unreported due to the precarious immigration status of some
workers, as well as language barriers, that discourage them from standing
up for their rights on the job or seeking compensation if they are injured.7
With COVID-19, dangerous working conditions have become
even worse. Employees work elbow-to-elbow on fast-moving assembly
lines, making physical distancing difficult. Rather than acting swiftly
to protect employees by slowing line speeds or halting operations
4. Ibid.
5. Abha Bhattarai, ââIt Feels Like a War Zoneâ: As More of Them Die, Grocery Workers
Increasingly Fear Showing up at Workâ, The Washington Post (12 April 2020),
online: <washingtonpost.com/business/2020/04/12/grocery-worker-fear-death-
coronavirus/>.
6. Leonor Cedillo, Katherine Lippel & Delphine Nakache, âFactors Influencing
the Health and Safety of Temporary Foreign Workers in Skilled and Low-
Skilled Occupations in Canadaâ (2019) 29:3 New Solutions: A J Environmental
& Occupational Health Policy at 422; Timothy Pachirat, Every Twelve Seconds:Â
IndustrializedÂ
SlaughterÂ
andÂ
theÂ
PoliticsÂ
ofÂ
Sight (New Haven: Yale University Press,
2013) [Pachirat]; Jennifer Dillard, âA Slaughterhouse Nightmare: Psychological
Harm Suffered by Slaughterhouse Employees and the Possibility of Redress
through Legal Reformâ (2008) 15:2 Geo J on Poverty L & Polây 391; Sally C Moyce
& Marc Schenker, âMigrant Workers and Their Occupational Health and Safetyâ
(2018) 39 Annual Rev Public Health at 351.
7. Pachirat, supra note 6; Verity Stevenson & Jaela Bernstien, âHow a Haitian
Asylum Seeker Was Swept Up in a Shadowy Industry of Temp Agency Workâ,
CBC News (28 March 2018), online: <cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/temp-worker-
accident-1.4594744>; Grant Gerlock, âWe Donât Know How Many Workers Are
Injured At Slaughterhouses. Hereâs Whyâ, NPR (25 May 2016), online: <npr.org/
sections/thesalt/2016/05/25/479509221/we-dont-know-how-many-workers-are-
injured-at-slaughterhouses-heres-why>.
VULNERABLE
The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19
- Title
- VULNERABLE
- Subtitle
- The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19
- Authors
- Vanessa MacDonnell
- Jane Philpott
- Sophie Thériault
- Sridhar Venkatapuram
- Publisher
- Ottawa Press
- Date
- 2020
- Language
- English
- License
- CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
- ISBN
- 9780776636429
- Size
- 15.2 x 22.8 cm
- Pages
- 648
- Categories
- Coronavirus
- International