Caged chickens, caged workers

As part of their campaign, better jobs 4 better chicken, Australia’s National Union Of Workers (NUW) recently surveyed 1000 workers in the poultry industry concerning safety. 62% of poultry workers received less than two hours of manual handling training with 37% saying they have had no such training at all. 40% of workers said they had no food handling training. One in five workers suffered bullying while in the poultry industry.37% had suffered an injury at work but only half that number filled in compensation claims. Meanwhile Baiada, one of Australia’s largest chicken processors, was found by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to be misleading the public when it described the farming practices it uses to raise chickens as ‘free to roam’. Baiada also has a history of mistreating workers where workplace fatigue, bullying and injury are all too common. Read the previous story here [1]

The International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations (IUF) is an international federation of trade unions representing workers employed in agriculture and plantations; the preparation and manufacture of food and beverages; hotels, restaurants and catering services; all stages of tobacco processing. The IUF is composed of 394 affiliated organizations in 126 countries representing a combined membership of around 2,6 million.

How to contact the IUF:
Email: [email protected]
Post: Rampe du Pont-Rouge, 8, CH-1213, Petit-Lancy (Switzerland)
Phone: + 41 22 793 22 33
Fax: + 41 22 793 22 38