Religious activists ruffle feathers of poultry industry

November 11, 2002

Religious activists ruffle feathers of poultry industry
___By William Bole
___Religion News Service
___WASHINGTON (RNS)--When the Bush administration announced last spring that it was cracking down on controversial labor practices in the poultry industry, it was an answer to the prayers--and lobbying--of people like Leone Jose Bicchieri.
___Bicchieri is part of a growing network of religious activists advocating on behalf of low-wage workers--and raising their loudest cackles in the chicken factories.
___"We're trying to help get back some of the money they've stolen from the workers," said Bicchieri, of the Chicago-based National Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice, mincing no words about how he feels about the big poultry processors.
___The Bush administration is putting the nation's chicken companies on notice that they may owe workers hundreds of millions of dollars for time worked but unpaid. This follows a $10 million settlement reached by the Department of Labor with Perdue Farms in May.
___In addition, the Labor Department filed a lawsuit against Tyson Foods, the nation's largest poultry processor, for clinging to pay practices Perdue agreed to abandon.
___It was a huge victory for "worker justice" groups around the country led by the National Interfaith Committee, which has been a leading instigator of reform in the industry since the mid-1990s.
___"We're all excited, but we're also extremely disappointed that Tyson has decided to fight this out," said Bicchieri, who spends most of his time traveling among poultry workers in the South.
___For its part, Tyson isn't all that pleased with advocates like Bicchieri.
___Last year, the food conglomerate slapped subpoenas on the interfaith committee and some of its local affiliates, demanding that they hand over all their documents relating to the poultry industry. The committee accused Tyson of engaging in harassment and fought off the action in court.
___Religious activists also have managed, for the time being at least, to prevail over some powerful industry allies in Washington.
___Sixteen U.S. senators from poultry states, including Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott of Mississippi, had written a letter to Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, asking her to walk away from the dispute over poultry pay. But the department has taken a sharp turn in the other direction.
___In response to an inquiry by Religion News Service, the department's wage and hour division said officials are sending letters to and meeting with representatives of various poultry companies.
___"If settlements are not reached, the department would take appropriate action," a spokeswoman said, citing the possibility of further lawsuits.
___Referring to immigrant workers and others, the spokeswoman added, "Faith-based organizations play an important role in educating workers about their rights, especially among those who might be hesitant to get in touch directly" with the government.
___The administration is insisting the companies pay workers for time spent putting on and taking off protective clothing and gear, a routine known as "donning and doffing."
___According to the Department of Labor, the poultry industry owes its workers about $300 million in back wages. About 250,000 employees work at nearly 200 poultry processing plants nationwide.
___But a spokesman for the National Chicken Council, the trade association for chicken production and processing companies, cried foul.
___"We feel the government has gone off on the wrong track," said Richard Lobb, adding that pay practices targeted by the government are fair as well as customary in the industry.
___The government's action has thrown light on a little-known movement of religious activists who congregate around the National Interfaith Committee and its affiliates.
___When it surfaced in 1996, the umbrella organization counted a dozen local and regional interfaith coalitions dedicated to labor and workplace issues. Now there are five times as many, all affiliated with the national committee.
___In the past year, local interfaith groups have waged campaigns on behalf of farm workers in Oregon, janitors in Los Angeles, teaching assistants at Yale University and immigrant sweatshop workers in Chicago.
___Looking at labor problems in their own backyards, the religious activists also have gone after some religious employers, like Catholic hospitals that resist unionization.
___Labor Day weekend, clergy in dozens of cities around the country preached about themes of work and justice, with help from liturgical materials distributed by the national group to Catholic, Protestant, Jewish and Muslim congregations.
___The Poultry Worker Justice Campaign, coordinated by Bicchieri, a former farm labor organizer, began in 1996 as an arm of the National Interfaith Committee.
___Prodded by clergy as well as labor leaders, the Clinton administration conducted two investigations of the industry. The second one, in 2000, found that 100 percent of the poultry plants investigated failed to pay workers for all the hours worked. At more than a third of the plants, workers had money illegally deducted from their paychecks for items like protective gear, according to that study.
___Meantime, the interfaith committee drafted worker-rights manuals in English and Spanish and distributed thousands of bulletin inserts to congregations located near poultry plants.
___At the start of the Bush administration, religious advocates found a less receptive ear in Washington. An open letter signed by 150 religious leaders drew no reply from the Department of Labor. Then, clergy and lay activists began delivering copies of the letter, in groups, to department field offices around the country.
___That caught the attention of Chao, who met with a delegation of 25 religious leaders in June 2001. A year later, the Bush administration announced its tough stance toward the industry.
___"We were able to politely keep up the pressure," Bicchieri said. "But they weren't dragged kicking and screaming into this. They had a lot of things on their plate."
___Lobb of the Chicken Council in Washington said there was "no question" that religious activist groups played the key role initially in getting the government to probe the poultry practices.
___But he added, "It's taken on a life of its own at this point."

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