New book highlights Tyson Foods' immigrant worker woes
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Photo: Worth Sparkman/Axios
A book by Little Rock journalist Alice Driver released last week documents the anxieties and afflictions of some immigrants who work for Tyson Foods.
Why it matters: In reporting "Life and Death of the American Worker: The Immigrants Taking on America's Largest Meatpacking Company," Driver got to personally know and follow the lives of several people who work in Tyson processing plants.
- Much of the reporting was done during the COVID-19 pandemic.
State of play: She connected with workers through Venceremos, a Springdale organization advocating for improved labor practices in the poultry industry.
- "I ended up following a group of workers who had a family member die of covid while working at Tyson," she told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
- "From their perspective, many of them were asked to work while being covid-positive or being on the line next to workers who had tested positive for covid."
One worker dreams of cutting chicken on the processing line and her husband was one of hundreds exposed to a chlorine gas leak at one of the company's Springdale plants in 2011.
What she's saying: "Injury in the meatpacking industry can be slow and even boring, a series of interactions in which medical coverage is denied to a worker or a visit to a doctor is not approved," an expert from the book published by Fast Company reads.
- "As companies like Tyson have shifted to using apps and artificial intelligence to interact with workers, the party responsible for disabling or killing a worker has become nameless and faceless. Who is responsible for the injury or death of a worker in the age of artificial intelligence?"
The other side: Tyson Foods did not respond to requests for comment on Driver's book.
Go deeper: Listen to an interview with Driver on the Arkansas Times' podcast.
Disclosure: Reporter Worth Sparkman formerly worked at Tyson Foods, including during some of the time that Driver reported on her book.