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"During the 1970's the Cordial relationship between Monfort executives and workers at the Greely slaughterhouse came to an end."(Schlosser 157)-This is just one of many prime examples of the many controversies between the meatpacking executives and the workers. Not all of the situations ended cleanly and many ended after a long period of time. Other cases involved firing all workers and just moving on which did not make the people of the town happy in any way, shape, or form.

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Petition our local and national political leaders to pass laws with stricter laws on the Meatpacking Industry and the USDA to make it harder for corruption to occur

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"The relentless low cost competition from IBP presented old-line Chicago meatpackers with a stark choice: go west or go out of business."(Schlosser 155)- The meatpacking business was competitive and businesses were all different and each tried to out do the other to get on top since the meatpacking business is a multi-billion dollar industry.

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Don't allow lobbyist to push issues on representatives and senators on food safety standards and public health laws.

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Make the issues in the Meatpacking Industry for public so a change can occur as the public puts influence on them.

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"Jobs at the Monfort slaughterhouse were among the highest paying in Greely, and there was a long waiting list of people seeking work at the plant."(Schlosser 151)-The workforce and environment for meatpacking has had its ups and downs and one of the many accomplishments or people that were success were the Monfort slaughterhouse because they paid well and had better working environments than other places.

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"The popular outrage inspired by the jungle led congress to enact food safety legislation in 1906. Little was done, however, to improve the lives of packinghouse workers, whose misfortune had inspired Upton Sinclair to write the book."(Schlosser 153)- This is proof that the meatpacking environment and workforce has been corrupt since the very beginning because the have tried to fix the factories and how the factories go about business but they just can't find a solution that works.

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Political Power of the Meatpacking Industry*

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Political Power of the Meatpacking Industry*

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The Meatpacking Industry not only slips under the radar of USDA and work standards with their political power but also tip-toe the line of employment law, "recruiting efforts of the American meatpacking industry now target some of the most impoverished and most vulnerable groups in the Western Hemisphere."(Schlosser 162) So by living off this working class that is unknowing of the wrong occurring the power of the Meatpacking Industry goes on without stumble.

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Political Power of the Meatpacking Industry*

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Political Power of the Meatpacking Industry*

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"They have turned one of the nation's best-paying manufacturing jobs into one of the lowest-paying, created a migrant industrial workforce of poor immigrants, tolerated high injury rates, and spawned rural ghettos in the American heartland."(Schlosser 149) When a company can have this many issues and this much control on the worker's life the fact becomes that the Meatpacking Industry has political power that exceeds some government agencies.

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Political Power of the Meatpacking Industry

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Political Power of the Meatpacking Industry

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The problem with fighting the Meatpacking industry is as Munsell demonstrates is people only get involved when it affects you personally. "What haunts him is not his decision to go public, he says, but the fact that he almost decided to stay quiet, just to protect his own livelihood. “You know what it comes down to?” says the third-generation meatpacker, his steady composure beginning to crack. “My grandkids. The USDA could care less about the health of my grandkids.”

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Political Power of the Meatpacking Industry

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Political Power of the Meatpacking Industry

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"To this day, the USDA maintains that it followed all of its own policies in regard to ConAgra and boasts of new safeguards that were put into place after the recall. USDA spokesman Steve Cohen also argues that Munsell never proved the source of the initial E. coli contamination and suggests that he “got a good deal” on the ConAgra meat. Munsell isn’t rattled by such accusations. “He is simply grasping at straws,” he says."

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Political Power of the Meatpacking Industry

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Political Power of the Meatpacking Industry

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"After months of lobbying, he persuaded Senator Burns to convene a congressional hearing in Billings last December, where Munsell testified on the failings of USDA inspections. Munsell also convinced the Government Accountability Project (GAP) — the nation’s leading whistleblower organization — to investigate the USDA’s handling of his case. In July 2003, GAP released a major report titled “Shielding the Giant: USDA’s ‘Don’t Look, Don’t Know’ Policy for Beef Inspection.” “The ConAgra-Munsell scandal,” it concluded, “perpetuates a long-standing USDA pattern to blame the messenger and scapegoat the victims, rather than stand behind its seal of wholesomeness.”(Scherer) This clearly shows us something can be done but to fix the problem is going to take much more than this one incident. ConAgra still has too much power in Congress for the rules of the game to change and if the change we need is to be achieved we must get their hands out of government.

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"The working conditions in these meatpacking plants were brutal."(Schlosser 152)-In ways said by others they also called them a horror which told the story of the average meatpacking business and in other words if the work is dangerous then that makes the food dangerous.

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Improve the working conditions of the workers by creating more proper procedures to make the environment safer.

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Ensure that the turnover rate will not be as high so that the community can build off of the steady work base.

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In order to provide a safer and cleaner environment for the workers, animals, and community that is involved in a meatpacking industry, we will create a petition to give to a state representative that forces the meatpacking industries to become unionized.

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Political Power of the Meatpacking Industry

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Political Power of the Meatpacking Industry

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So this begs the question, What are the real policies in place in the Meatpacking Industry? As Munsell was later quoted saying "I want the world to know what the real policies are. The real policies imperil the consumer, The USDA doesn’t want that out."(Scherer) and because the USDA didn't want it out, it didn't get out and people didn't hear about it. With only a small minority fighting against the meatpacking industry no change can be achieved, because the public just isn't aware.

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A possibly solution to the increased amount of illegal immigrants coming to work in meatpacking industries would be to run thorough background checks on every employee before he/she gets hired. This would make it easier to sort out who is eligible to work in the United States versus who isn't.

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Political Power of the Meatpacking Industry

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Political Power of the Meatpacking Industry

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After Munsell continued whistleblowing to anyone in power to make a change, his "worst fears came true. E. coli-tainted burger from Greeley killed an Ohio woman and sickened at least 35 others. ConAgra then recalled 19 million pounds of beef, one of the largest recalls in history. (As much as 80 percent of the meat had already been consumed.)" When a small group becomes powerful enough to push our government around. Is when something needs to change. When test results show that something is wrong all avenues need to be addressed and the only one that is being addressed is the small business that can't fund a politician to have their views upheld in government.

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A possible solution to the increased amount of crime in meatpacking districts could be to add additional police support in the more crime ridden areas. This could possibly cause the crime rates to go down, therefore creating a safer, friendlier city for the residents to enjoy.

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A possible solution to improve the workforce would be to set a minimum wage for each employee and then have an accurate bonus for each employee each month until maximum pay is acquired.

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”According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the animal slaughtering and processing industry employed a total of 506,000 people at the close of 2005. The average earnings of production workers that year was $11.47 an hour, about 30 percent less than the average wage for all manufacturing jobs.”-Year 2005 I calculated the cost of how much money they spend on workers and if go with the average of each worker working 7-8 hours a day then you take the $11.47 and multiply it by 7-8 and then multiple that number by most likely 260 because if a year has 52 weeks and a person works 5 days a week on average then the average worker would make around $23,857.6. If you average every worker to make around that specific amount then if you add up all of the workers pay then the total amount would be $12,071,945,600. The company on average makes about 100 billion a year. That means that the workers are completely under paid and the company is paying them way less than a quarter of what they make as a company.

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Political Power of the Meatpacking Industry

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Political Power of the Meatpacking Industry

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When "Munsell fired off an angry email to the district USDA manager, warning of a potential public-health emergency"(Scherer) the USDA promptly did the opposite of what you might expect. "The agency moved immediately and aggressively — not to recall meat from Greeley, but to shut down Munsell’s grinding operation, a punishment that lasted four months."(Scherer) This confirms that the USDA is not protecting the food and ensuring food quality but simply ensuring that the big companies priorities and interest are protected in business.

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A possible fix to the potential psychological effects the meatpacking industry could have on children and citizens in a meatpacking town is to make the meatpacking industry separated off, or segregated, from the town. It could perhaps be located in a less populated area. This would allow the chances of a child or someone unwilling to see the events that go on there to go down immensely.

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Works Cited

1. "The Meatpacking District: A Community Vision for Gansevoort Plaza - Project for Public Spaces." Project for Public Spaces. Project for Public Spaces, 2005. Web. 11 May 2016.

2. Murray, Sara. "On the Killing Floor, Clues to the Impact Of Immigration on Jobs." The Wall Street Journal. The Wall Street Journal, 21 Aug. 2013. Web. 11 May 2016.

3. Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2001. Print.
4. Scherer, Michael. "U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Captured by Meatpacking Industry." Reclaim Democracy. Mother Jones Magazine, 01 Nov. 2003. Web. 12 May 2016.
5."Meatpacking in the U.S. Still a 'Jungle' out There!" PBS Meatpacking. Ed. PBS The Nation Dallas Morning News. PBS, 15 Dec. 06. Web. 12 May 2016.

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"Still a working district, recent changes in land use (the insert of a meatpacking industry) have brought in major fashion houses and boutiques, cutting-edge restaurants, nightlife, and hotels" ("Project for Public Spaces," 2005). This quote provides a clear example of how meatpacking districts can provide positive things to a society. A large influx of people has brought the town a new sense of fashion, restaurants, nightlife, and hotels. This kind of stuff brings together a city and provides a happier vibe from the citizens.

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"The population (Greeley, Colorado) blossomed to more than 90,000 in 2010, 36% of whom were Hispanic, most of them from Mexico. Twenty years earlier, the town had 60,500 residents, 20% of them Hispanic" (Murray). In this town, the meatpacking industry made the city blossom with people, as it does with every meatpacking city. This changes a community immensely and would provide many new factors that people might struggle to cope with (crime, education, jobs, etc.).

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Political Power of the Meatpacking Industry

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Political Power of the Meatpacking Industry

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The power of the USDA is there to protect people from the dangers that can come from the food production industry. So when "E. coli 0157:H7, a potentially deadly pathogen"(Scherer) was found "Instead of tracking the contaminated meat back to its source, the USDA launched an investigation of Munsell’s own operation in Miles City, Montana. Never mind that the local federal inspector had seen the beef go straight from the package into a clean grinder"(Scherer) Is the fact that the USDA has been captured and is just a branch of the Meatpacking industry instead.

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-”Key workplace hazards for meat and poultry laborers include excessive processing line speed, work spaces sullied with animal remains, cutting in close quarters, and cumulative stress disorders due to repetitive motions.”-Years 2000-Current This gives us the backbone to the hazards the meatpacking workers go through even currently. It’s not only a dirty job but it is a dangerous job.

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”In 1988 the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced fines totaling more than $3.1 million against IBP for exposing workers at its plant in Dakota City, Nebraska to cumulative trauma disorders resulting from highly repetitive meat cutting tasks."-Year 1988 This case was just one example of many of the millions of dollars IBP had to pay for poor working conditions along with putting their employees at risk in their factories.

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Although there's a machine used to do this work now, at one point the slaughter was done primarily by hand, "The work used to be done by hand; workers used knives to peel the hide from the skull" (Murray). This treatment could have serious psychological effects on the workers having to do this stuff. Being around that kind of slaughter and pain, and knowing you or a neighbor is the one causing it, could effect people in a very negative way, causing the overall moral of the meatpacking cities to decline.

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-”In 1988 the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced fines totaling more than $3.1 million against IBP for exposing workers at its plant in Dakota City, Nebraska to cumulative trauma disorders resulting from highly repetitive meat cutting tasks.”-Year 1988 This case was just one example of many of the millions of dollars IBP had to pay for poor working conditions along with putting their employees at risk in their factories.

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Something that's common throughout meatpacking cities is the amount of slaughter and hatred amongst the communities, "Nearby, a river of blood runs across the "kill floor" as cattle are heaved aloft on a chain for the various stages of dismemberment" (Murray). This kind of society is detrimental to young children running around the neighborhoods. Psychologically speaking, this could seriously impact a child if they’re aware of what's going on, or if they potentially see this kind of stuff happening.

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The arrival of meatpacking industries in a town leads to an incredibly increased rate of crime and numerous other situations. After opening a slaughterhouse in Lexington, Nebraska (a town with the highest crime rate in Nebraska already), "the number of serious crimes doubled; the number of Medicaid cases nearly doubled; Lexington became a major distribution center for illegal drugs; gang members appeared in town and committed drive-by shootings; the majority of Lexington's white inhabitants moved elsewhere; and the proportion of Latino inhabitants increased more than tenfold, climbing to over 50 percent" (Schlosser 165). All of these things are because of the arrival of the meatpacking industry in Lexington.

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Meatpacking industries have discovered that many people outside of the United States find the lower (to our standards) pay rate desirable, so they want to come work here instead. This is controversial because it leads to so many illegal immigrants working in America, "The Immigration and Naturalization Service estimates that about one-quarter of all meatpacking workers in Iowa and Nebraska are illegal immigrants" (Schlosser 162).

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Much like working fast food, workers at meatpacking plants try to make a living off the very low prices they're being paid, "[Workers] who live in places like the River Park Mobile Court, a collection of battered old trailers a quarter-mile down the roa from the slaughterhouse. They share rooms in old motels, sleeping on mattresses that cover the floor" (Schlosser 160). This quality of life is very poor and it's nearly impossible to sustain a healthy family without having the necessary environment to do so.

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In the 1980's the turnover rate of meatpacking industries skyrocketed, "During one eighteen-month period, more than five thousand different people were employed at the Greeley beef plant - an annual turnover rate of about 400 percent. The average worker quit or was fired every three months (Schlosser 160). This lack of stability is horrible for a community because it influences people negatively and causes families to uproot their lives if they're unable to hold a steady job.

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In meatpacking industries mob involvement is frequent, but not always taken care of, "Judge Burton Roberts fined IBP $7,000, but did not punish Holman with an prison term or fine, noting that bribes were sometimes part of the cost of doing business in New York City" (Schlosser 155). This encourages the negative behavior associated with mobs and allows others to think that kind of stuff is okay, too.

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Poltical Power of the Meatpacking Industry

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Poltical Power of the Meatpacking Industry

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USDA gained a whistleblower, as "bad meat made an activist out of John Munsell"(Scherer) When "tainted beef arrived — USDA approved and vacuum sealed."(Scherer) The singularity of this event happening shows that the Meatpacking Industry has a power over the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). If a USDA approved package of meat was bad something is corrupt in the system and needs to change.

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-The peak average hourly wage of a meat packing employee during this period was nearly $20 an hour when adjusted for inflation.Years 1930-1970 The pay in the meatpacking industry has declined enormously and the conditions are declining with it.

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Something mentioned frequently throughout our chapter is the impact of the smell the meatpacking companies produce. "'We have three odors,' a Lexington resident told a reporter: 'burning hair and blood, that greasy smell, and the odor of rotten eggs.'" (Schlosser 16). However, there have been measures to prevent this from happening, "In January of 2000, the Justice Department sued IBP for violations of the Clean Air Act at its Dakota City plant...(Schlosser 165)"