U.S. poultry workers find health and safety protection by organizing.

Two recent reports have again highlighted the dangerous and undignified working conditions in many poultry processing plants in the United States.

A new Government Accountability Office (GAO)report states that the work is not only extremely dangerous but there is significant underreporting of injuries.

Major companies employ vulnerable refugees and migrants and a climate of fear prevents workers from speaking out.

Oxfam America has reported that many poultry workers choose to wear diapers because of the indignity of being refused bathroom breaks.

Oxfam found the healthy and safe exceptions are primarily in plants that have unions, which offer important protections, inform workers of their rights, and ensure they have a voice on the job.

The IUF affiliated UFCW commented: “workers need to know they have a right to organize and that organized workers have more opportunities to protect themselves from this type of abuse.”