MINNEAPOLIS — A Wisconsin company, accused of hiring underage workers to clean meat processing plants in Minnesota and other states, agreed to more government oversight this week.
When the U.S. Labor Department first accused Wisconsin-based, Packer Sanitation Services Inc. (PSSI) of employing at least 50 underage workers, in three states — including several at the JBS, in Worthington, and Turkey Valley, in Marshall — seemingly everyone expressed shock.
"All of the companies, whether it's JBS, Turkey Valley or PSSI, they all said, 'We didn't know about this. We don't want to be employing people under the age of 18,' and yet it's happened." Vondracek said. "And so I think that's the big question right now. How did this thing happen that we thought we had passed by from Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, a century ago?"
But when Star Tribune agriculture reporter, Christopher Vondracek and photojournalist, turned interpreter, Liz Flores, visited the impacted communities in search of perspective from workers themselves, they encountered far less shock about the allegations and the working conditions.
Vondracek: "Some of the people we've spoken with in Worthington will describe it as even tougher work than working in the slaughterhouse itself. First off, you are working at night, the sort of graveyard shift, and then they're going to school in the morning so they are falling asleep in school. The sort of high pressure hoses can be very hot. In this case, we do know that at least a few of the individuals who were employed in Grand Island (Nebraska) had chemical burns. In some instances we've seen people as young as 13 who were hired to do this kind of labor."
Erdahl: "What sticks with you from those conversations?"
Vondracek: "Often times, the desperation and the fear that people will sort of reflect or express about their precariousness in even speaking with me, because there is a fear that to share details about labor abuses or labor violations, would put them at risk or put the community at risk."
Despite that danger, he says many employees in Worthington told him they sought the work for financial reasons, and many expressed confusion that it was illegal to be working in that setting under the age of 18. He says a PSSI office near located just a block from the high school may have added to that confusion, and the Department of Labor alleges an employee there, was making it even easier.
"One individual was accused of helping fabricate identification documents for potential, prospective workers," Vondracek said. "Of course, PSSI, this Wisconsin-based company, said, it's rogue employees. We have a companywide structure against hiring minors, but there could be rogue employees."
A judge has now called for more oversight of the company, as part of a consent order that PSSI signed on to this week. As Vondracek reported this week, the order also essentially brings an end to the federal lawsuit.
Vondracek: "(PSSI) conceded, and agreed to a permanent injunction against them hiring minors, which is was illegal anyway, but there was a whole sort of raft of stipulations that are now going to be imposed upon them. Most importantly, they'll have to hire a third party consultant, who, for three years, will be kind of watching the company like a hawk."
Erdahl: "People might be surprised to hear that that's it."
Vondracek: "Yes, for the entitites that own the companies, this is now a kind of paperwork matter. That does, I think, smack of a little bit of injustice, and so for me, as a reporter, I don't think it is an ending. For the families down in Worthington and Marshall, it's not the end."
Erdahl: "Do we know what is happening to those kids?
Vondracek: "We do not, except that they are no longer supposed to be employed by PSSI. We know that many of them are students, but we don't know at this point whether there will be any kind of criminal charges on behalf of abuse done to them. The schools have not shared a lot of details about any kind of programming they are doing for these kids, and so we're still trying to ask those questions."
Watch more Breaking The News:
Watch all of the latest stories from Breaking The News in our YouTube playlist: