UFCW legal victory wins back payment for thousands of Tyson poultry workers

A settlement has been approved by a US court awarding USD 32 million to more than 17,000 Tyson poultry workers in 41 plants in 12 states, the culmination of a long struggle for compensation for work already performed initiated by the IUF-affiliated UFCW 12 years ago.

The union action charged Tyson with failing to compensate workers for time spent changing in and out of protective gear. In a press release announcing the settlement, the UFCW points out that before the union took up the issue “Meatpacking companies didn’t pay workers for time spent taking the gear on and off, adding up to thousands of dollars of lost pay over years of work.”

“We’ve already made a change in the way meatpackers pay their workers”, says UFCW President Joe Hansen. “While this settlement is long overdue, our efforts have ensured that thousands of workers have been paid correctly for years now.”

The settlement will bring on average USD 1,000 to current and former Tyson workers.

Tyson, one of the largest TNCs in the beef, poultry and pork sectors, is present in over 90 countries with over 115,000 employees.