One Reason It’s Hard to Write About the Bangladesh Factory Disaster
Current U.S. treatment of our most vulnerable workforce isnt exactly an exemplar:
Social workers said the disabled men had been denied bathroom breaks, locked in their rooms, kicked in the groin and, in one case, handcuffed to a bed.
DAVENPORT, Iowa A jury on Wednesday awarded a total of $240 million to
32 mentally disabled turkey processing plant workers in Iowa for what an expert witness described as years of virtual enslavement by the Texas company that oversaw their care, work and lodging
During the weeklong trial that ended Wednesday, officials testified about the squalid conditions they found during a 2009 inspection of the bunkhouse where the men were housed. The building, which was in a rural area several miles from the West Liberty Foods turkey processing plant where they worked, was falling apart, infested with rodents and full of fire hazards.
Social workers spoke of the physical and verbal abuse the men said they had been subjected to by the Henrys supervisors who oversaw their work and care. They said they had been forced to work through illness and injuries, denied bathroom breaks, locked in their rooms, kicked in the groin and, in one case, handcuffed to a bed
If these men had not been virtually enslaved, they could have enjoyed productive lives with the support of community, she said. It was only because they were disabled.
OMFG:
http://news.msn.com/us/iowa-turkey-plant-workers-awarded-dollar240m-for-years-of-abuse