050406 Texas Meat and Poultry Workers Push for Reforms

Representatives of advocacy groups were in Austin calling on legislators to change the workers' compensation system to better protect the rights of workers in dangerous meat and poultry plants.

According to the American-Statesman, labor, civil rights and religious organizations want lawmakers to pass legislation that would guarantee fair legal representation and a wider choice of doctors for such workers. They also want to make sure that companies would no longer be able to force workers to sign waivers relinquishing their legal rights.

Advocates cited a Human Rights Watch report, released in January, which found that safety practices in many US meat and poultry plants violate the human rights of workers by not protecting them from harm on the job, denying them workers' compensation when they do get hurt, and intimidating employees who try to unionize the plants.

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