all 5 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] 20 points 1 month ago*

Yes because that’s the real tragedy here.

The socialist author Upton Sinclair went undercover in the Chicago meat packing plants to research for his book The Jungle released in 1906. He wrote the book to bring light to the exploitation of the newly arrived European immigrants, the harsh and dangerous working conditions and the systematic political corruption that kept them poor and dependent on these plants, and upon its publishing (which itself required significant censorship from the publisher), the people were more concerned by the unsanitary food preparation than the plight of the workers, and now 120 years later seems like all that has changed is the immigrants that are getting exploited

  • source
  • [–] 16 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    Jfc, people are being disappeared and trafficked, maybe there are more important things than cost?

  • source
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 10 points 1 month ago

    its almost always the low quality meat companies like tyson and the recently striked one.

  • source
  • [–] 8 points 1 month ago*

    This will bring down MAGA. Not ethical concerns of any kind*. Higher prices. (And good ol' NIMBY wrt data centers).

    * Not mainly at least. Some of the news I'm hearing this year might indicate that the mainstream is extremely thick-skinned but not completely petrified.

  • source
  • 16 comments in c/usa@lemmy.ml view that post
    [–] 10 points 1 month ago (7 children)

    So they basically admit their entire business model relies on abusing workers in precarious positions?

  • source
  • hideshow 7 child comments
  • [–] 8 points 1 month ago (6 children)

    My first thought again: why aren't they arresting business owners and hiring managers, alongside immigrants?

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 6 child comments
  • [–] 6 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (3 children)

    yep, been saying this since I was in high school.

    think how inefficient it is identify, track, investigate, monitor, apprehend, imprison, transport, feed, deport and terrorize millions of people who by definition are undocumented (as in, hard to find or process)... compared to a much smaller number of US registered companies with physical addresses and org charts and the names of their owners or boards easily obtainable.

    the budget for ICE is now larger than the entire US Marine Corp (citation missing). we could solve the problem of companies knowingly abusing migrants labor in no time with a few thousand federal inspectors/agents/investigators assigned to shutdown known hirers. with a fraction of the budget. but expecting corporations to take responsibility for knowingly breaking the law isn't allowed in America any more, I guess.

    tldr we shouldn't be punishing individual people trying to work to feed their families (and in the process actual feeding American families). we should be holding abusive employers accountable and also making a path to citizenship (or at least the ability to freely cross borders under a work permit, without fear of deportation while working).

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • [–] 7 points 1 month ago* (2 children)

    This misunderstands the purpose of ICE, I think.

    They're helping intensify the abuse of migrant labor, not trying to reduce it. Their purpose is to terrify migrant workers into compliance and obedience and silence. The problem, of course, is that this can only be pushed so far - like squeezing blood from stone. Eventually, no amount of additional terror will result in labor intensification because it can't actually be intensified further.

    The next step would be labor camps.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 3 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    which is precisely why ice must be abolished. and the laws must be changed.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 2 points 1 month ago

    They can't, really. The labor intensification is happening because they need to constantly increase profits YoY, and labor costs are often the largest expense of any industry. If the laws were changed and migrant labor was treated like all other labor, they'd have rights and benefits and minimum wage and legal protections. Those are all things the meatpacking industry can't allow.

    This is just the contradictions reaching a tipping point. They either have to accept lower profits or build labor camps.

    They're going to build labor camps.

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 8 points 1 month ago (3 children)

    Trump said LOWER grocery prices, not lower MEAT prices.

    Is that two lies???

  • source
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • [–] 2 points 1 month ago (2 children)

    The vegetables give you diarrhea and are still not any cheaper. Its either ONE lie or thousands of lies. Either way. It's too damn easy to see $100 disappear in a single paper bag of groceries.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 2 points 1 month ago

    Its a good time to eat less meat.

  • source
  • [–] 2 points 1 month ago

    Could? They are already ridiculously overpriced made especially worse since Trump arrived. ICE is just an extra fat layer on top of the existing fat layers of overpricing.

  • source
  • [–] 2 points 1 month ago

    I work in food service. The companies that sell products to restaurants, schools, hospitals, etc are fucked.

  • source
  • [–] 1 point 1 month ago

    Oh, that kind of meat packing group

  • source
  • 2 comments in c/usa@midwest.social view that post
    [–] 5 points 1 month ago

    You don’t say.

  • source
  • [–] 1 point 1 month ago