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Ellen L

Meatpacking Industry - The Jungle, Congress of Industrial Organizations, United Packing... - 0 views

www.jrank.org/...Meatpacking-Industry.html

jungle workers america food Fast Food Nation

shared by Ellen L on 29 Sep 11 - No Cached
  • Competition and low profit margins generate a corporate motive for maximum productivity, and deregulation has shredded health and safety standards.
  • A study by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS; now the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services) in 1997 found that one-fourth of the workers in seven meatpacking plants in Iowa and Nebraska had “questionable” documents. The INS's Operation Vanguard in 1999 rounded up immigrants in slaughterhouses, bringing charges that employers and the government colluded to prevent workers from organizing unions.
  • Ellen L on 29 Sep 11
     
    Connects The Jungle, and the Eastern European immigrant labor force used by the Chicago meatpacking industry to the present day use of Mexican immigrant labor in today's industries. Provides concrete details on the legality of the workforce used by modern corporations, as well as the questionable conditions in which they work. Bridges The Jungle and FFN without actually mentioning FFN
Sydney C

Working Conditions in American Slaughterhouses: Worse than You Thought - 1 views

www.organicconsumers.org/...slaughterworkers.cfm

the jungle working conditions

shared by Sydney C on 30 Sep 11 - No Cached
  • David D on 30 Sep 11
     
    Working Conditions in American Slaughterhouses 2001
  • ...1 more comment...
  • David D on 30 Sep 11
     
    This article shows a direct relationship of The Jungle to current conditions in slaughterhouses around the nation. The article compares Jurgis Rudkis to a modern Mexican immigrant. Recruiting Mexican immigrants to work in the slaughterhouses has become a common practice in the industry, as the Naturalization Services estimates one quarter of the workers in Nebraska and Iowa are illegal immigrants. The article also explains the relation of injuries on the job to the cleanliness of meat we eat. The fast pace in slaughterhouses leads to contamination of meat, as accidental intestinal spillage of cattle is found in meat. Due to this contamination, fast food is not safe to eat, since the fast food industry buys most of the country's meat.
  • Ben R on 30 Sep 11
     
    The article speaks to how little the conditions have changed since The Jungle and how the industry still employs the cheapest and least educated work force they can get their hands on. In the early 1900s this the immigrants from places like Poland many like Jurgis and now it is the spanish immigrants most of who are illegal. They don not complain and are constantly at risk of injury for which largely goes unreported.
  • Sydney C on 01 Oct 11
     
    Comparing the conditions of the factories where Jurgis and Eastern European immigrants worked with the new factories in Nebraska where South American/Mexican immigrants now work. It talks about how conditions are still harsh, and it is still hard to make ends meet even after all these years.
David D

Book Review: The Grapes of Wrath | Do Something - 0 views

www.dosomething.org/...book-review-grapes-wrath

grapes of wrath treatment of the worker

shared by David D on 30 Sep 11 - No Cached
  • It's also a clear call to action for labor rights, unions, and other causes that still affect people today.
  • You can compare the migration from Oklahoma to today's immigration. Much like in Steinbeck's novel, today some Americans hold contempt for immigrants coming to California and other agricultural areas to labor as migrant workers. However, the food industry depends on this cheap labor, and goes through great pains to make sure that it remains cheap. Today, half of all migrant farm workers make less than $20 per day.
  • Ellen L on 30 Sep 11
     
    This review discusses the plight of the Joads and other Oklahomians to that of today's immigrants. The food industry of today, like that of the 1930s, depends on cheap, replacable laborers.
  • David D on 30 Sep 11
     
    Great review of the Grapes of Wrath with specific topics brought out by the book.
  • David D on 30 Sep 11
     
    The review talks about the specific angles of poverty, labor rights, unemployment, and discrimination. It also compares the plight of the "Okies" to the treatment of today's immigrants. Just as current immigrants have derogatory names, the "immigrant Okies" were hated by residents of California where they eventually resided. The fight for labor rights was a strong interest of Jim Casy, and later Tom's, who began organizing people soon after coming to California.
Evan G

SparkNotes: The Jungle: Themes, Motifs & Symbols - 0 views

www.sparknotes.com/...themes.html

the jungle

shared by Evan G on 29 Sep 11 - No Cached
  • Every event, especially in the first twenty-seven chapters of the book, is chosen deliberately to portray a particular failure of capitalism, which is, in Sinclair’s view, inhuman, destructive, unjust, brutal, and violent.
  • The slow annihilation of Jurgis’s immigrant family at the hands of a cruel and prejudiced economic and social system demonstrates the effect of capitalism on the working class as a whole
  • Instead of a land of acceptance and opportunity, they find a place of prejudice and exploitation; instead of a country where hard work and morality lead to success, they find a place where only moral corruption, crime, and graft enable one to succeed materially.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • The family itself has been subject to swindles, grafts, manipulation, and rape. As the corruption motif recurs with increasing levels of immorality, it enhances the sense that things are growing worse and worse for the family. Sinclair heightens the atmosphere of grim tragedy and hopelessness to such an extent that only the encounter with socialism in Chapter 28 can possibly alleviate Jurgis’s suffering and give his life meaning.
  • Evan G on 29 Sep 11
     
    Yet again, Sparknotes is a fairly decent source, describing various themes for potential essay topics including the failure of capitalism, corruption in businesses, treatment of the [immigrant]  worker, etc. It's very short, to the point, and concise, talking about how awfully workers are manipulated, and the utter torment they go through on a day-to-day basis, merely trying to survive.
David D

Domestic Workers' Rights: A Matter of Ethics-Forward.com - 0 views

www.forward.com/104046

treatment of the worker nickel and dimed america

shared by David D on 04 Oct 11 - No Cached
  • David D on 04 Oct 11
     
    This article explains that the immigrants who work in our house as helpers or housekeepers today are no better off than immigrant workers hundreds of years ago. They have virtually no protection from exploitation. Whether a minority women working in a suburban home, or the immigrant working the tomato farms of Florida, laborers are bent at the will of their employer. Usually, this is not positive, as profit is usually the only goal for greedy business-people.
Zach Ramsfelder

Two Bills Gang up on Immigrant Farm Workers - 0 views

www.sltrib.com/...rs-growers-wage-guest.html.csp

grapes of wrath

shared by Zach Ramsfelder on 28 Sep 11 - No Cached
  • Zach Ramsfelder on 28 Sep 11
     
    An editorial talking about how the migrant farm workers system is broken, and that many migrant farm workers are fleeing places where they can find work because of anti-illegal immigrant laws.
Julianne M

Calisphere - California Cultures - 1866-1920: Rapid Population Growth, Large-Scale Agri... - 0 views

www.calisphere.universityofcalifornia.edu/...era5.html

history california immigrants hardship grapes of wrath

shared by Julianne M on 28 Sep 11 - No Cached
  • Julianne M on 28 Sep 11
     
    This demonstrates other events that were happening during the late nineteenth century to early twentieth century- not only were migrant farmers from all over America coming to California, but immigrants from Japan, the Philippines, Mexico, and China provided still more competition for work.
Sydney C

BRIA 24 1 b Upton Sinclairs The Jungle: Muckraking the Meat-Packing Industry - Constitu... - 0 views

www.crf-usa.org/...the-meat-packing-industry.html

the jungle working conditions

shared by Sydney C on 30 Sep 11 - No Cached
  • The progressives revealed how these companies eliminated competition, set high prices, and treated workers as "wage slaves."
    • Vivas T
      Vivas T on 30 Sep 11
       
      This article reveals this lack of business ethics during this time period through the cooperation of large industries in order to reduce competition. As a result, they are able to drive prices up, which depicts their cruelty towards customers as well as the treatment of workers as "wage slaves" in order to gain more profits.
  • Sarah Sch on 30 Sep 11
     
    This article gives historical information on the meat packing industry of the early 1900's. The article tells of the progressive movement of the age which supported reforms. The article tells of the response to "The Jungle" and the innovative aspects of the new processing regulations. The article also gives a short biography about Sinclair's childhood to his death.
  • ...1 more comment...
  • Ben R on 30 Sep 11
     
    speaks to alot of the conditions Jurgis and his family went though
  • Ben R on 30 Sep 11
     
    "Unskilled immigrant men did the backbreaking and often dangerous work, laboring in dark and unventilated rooms, hot in summer and unheated in winter." The article shows how cruel the conditions of the factory worker were. And since the work force was unskilled and immigrants, they were often taken advantage of because they knew no better
  • Sydney C on 01 Oct 11
     
    The ethical issues addressed in The Jungle and how they relate to the bills passed after the publication. It talks about how Roosevelt responded to the book and passed many new restrictions on the Chicago meatpacking district, as well as businesses all over the country.
Ellen L

Reading "The Grapes of Wrath" in 2010: Immigration, Capitalism and the Histor... - 0 views

endofcapitalism.com/...the-historic-moment-in-arizona

grapes of wrath poor treatment

shared by Ellen L on 30 Sep 11 - No Cached
  • People usually do not resort to risky and desperate moves unless they have nothing left to lose. Steinbeck begins the Joads’ story with the loss of everything they had
  • Whether as tenants or small landholders, either for subsistence or for markets, the vast majority of the poor migrantes now coming to this country are fleeing the loss of their farms and their livelihoods, just as the Joads
  • As far as capitalism is concerned, whatever will maximize profit is the arrangement that must be pursued, regardless of the human consequences. The situation in Mexico today resembles that of Oklahoma 75 years ago. Small family farms are no longer profitable enough, and people are being thrown off their land every year by the thousands.
  • Ellen L on 30 Sep 11
     
    Interesting perspective comparing the Okies of the 1930s to the Mexicans of today. Covers the capitalism, xenophobia, and enclosure presented to both groups. This article shows the attitude that little has changed over the past century
Vivas T

Gale Virtual Reference Library - Document - 0 views

go.galegroup.com/ps/retrieve.do?sgHitCountType=None&sort=RELEVANCE&inPS=true&prodId=GVRL&userGroupName=morr36556&tabID=T003&searchId=R10&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&contentSegment=&searchType=BasicSearchForm&currentPosition=1&contentSet=GALE%7CCX3403400496&&docId=GALE|CX3403400496&docType=GALE&role=

fast food nation workers poor

shared by Vivas T on 30 Sep 11 - No Cached
  • by centralizing the slaughterhouses, by using cheap, often immigrant labor and, in Schlosser's words, "by crushing labor unions and championing the ruthless efficiency of the market"
    • Vivas T
      Vivas T on 30 Sep 11
       
      This portrays the use of immigrant workers in today's society in order to save money for businesses and allow their own profits to expand, which clearly relates to the early 1900s, depicted in The Jungle.
  • slaughter
Vivas T

Mass Marketing - 0 views

go.galegroup.com/ps/retrieve.do?sgHitCountType=None&sort=RELEVANCE&inPS=true&prodId=GVRL&userGroupName=morr36556&tabID=T003&searchId=R3&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&contentSegment=&searchType=BasicSearchForm&currentPosition=9&contentSet=GALE%7CCX3470800148&&docId=GALE|CX3470800148&docType=GALE&role=

the jungle treatment of the worker authorial purpose

shared by Vivas T on 30 Sep 11 - No Cached
  • This text's effort to expose the deadly living and working conditions of the immigrants in Chicago's stockyards and meatpacking factories was co-opted by the consumer movement's campaign for protective legislation and led to the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906.
    • Vivas T
      Vivas T on 30 Sep 11
       
      This clearly displays the vile working conditions as well as depicts one of Sinclair's purposes in writing this novel. His purpose was to portray the horrible treatment of the worker inconsiderate nature of the meatpacking industries towards its customers also. Therefore, one of the outcomes was the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906.
Emily S

Racism in American Politics - 0 views

sks.sirs.com/...hst-article-display

invisible man america ethics racism

shared by Emily S on 05 Jan 12 - No Cached
  • Emily S on 05 Jan 12
     
    Although Americans jump to think of the USA as a free country where people are generally accepting, racism has had an outcome on politics in last 10 years. Immigration policies like those at the Arizone border showcase that racism is still present, even if not against African Americans
David D

The Ballot or the Bullet by Malcolm X - 0 views

teachingamericanhistory.org/...index.asp

malcolm x

shared by David D on 09 Jan 12 - Cached
  • David D on 09 Jan 12
     
    This is the complete text of Malcolm X's The Ballot or the Bullet speech. The speech sums up Macolm's view of white America. He attacks the political system, the draft, and the fact that blacks are not truly American while newly naturalized immigrants are Americans. He further uses the description of the blue eyed European to convey his image of the devil.
David D

Migrant Struggle - 0 views

www.learner.org/...context_activ-3.html

grapes of wrath the jungle

shared by David D on 28 Sep 11 - No Cached
  • David D on 28 Sep 11
     
    Good site describing migrant struggles
  • David D on 30 Sep 11
     
    The site gives the general background of migrants in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The rise of the railroad led to a massive migration from an agrarian based society to an industrial one centered in the city, which was also fed by a myriad of immigrants. Migrants from the midwestern states also experienced a large movement during the early 20th century. Tenant farmers were pushed off their land, and tried to find success in the fertile fields of Calfornia. The source also gives information pertaining to the rise of trade unions in the nation, like the American Federation of Labor.
Sydney C

History of America's Meat Packing Industry - 0 views

www.pbs.org/...meat-packing.html

the jungle ethics conditions

shared by Sydney C on 30 Sep 11 - Cached
  • Over the next 40 years, unions such as the United Packinghouse Workers of America (UPWA) were able to improve both the pay and working conditions of meat packing employees in the U.S. The UPWA was also known for its progressive ideals and its support of the civil rights movement during the 1960s.
  • Developments such as improved distribution channels allowed meat packing companies to move out of urban, union-dominated centers and relocate to rural areas closer to livestock feedlots.
  • By the late 1990s, the meat packing industry had consolidated such that the top four firms accounted for approximately 50 percent of all U.S. poultry and pork production and 80 percent of all beef production.
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that there was an average of 12.6 injuries or illnesses per 100 full-time meat packing plant employees in 2005, a number twice as high as the average for all U.S. manufacturing jobs. Some experts maintain that this number is actually too low as many workers' injuries go unreported due to employee misinformation or intimidation.
  • Governor Michael Johanns (currently U.S. Secretary of Agriculture) issued the "Nebraska Meatpacking Industry Workers Bill of Rights" in June of 2000. Though only a voluntary set of guidelines, the bill recognized the rights of meat packing employees to organize, work in safe conditions, and to seek help from the state.
  • According to REAP, a union-affiliated group, union membership among meat packing employees has plunged from 80 percent in 1980 to less than 50 percent today.
  • the number of immigrant laborers in meat packing plants—and in the Midwestern areas in which they are primarily located—has increased dramatically. According to the USDA, the percentage of Hispanic meat-processing workers rose from less than 10 percent in 1980 to nearly 30 percent in 2000.
  • Sarah Sch on 30 Sep 11
     
    This article by PBS chronicles the evolution of the workers in the meat packing industry. The article tells of the meat packing industry revealed by Sinclair to present conditions. The average hourly wage for meat packing workers has fallen since the 1970's. The article also tells of the poor working conditions "Fast Food Nation" describes and how meat packing is one of the most dangerous jobs in America.
  • ...2 more comments...
  • Ellen L on 30 Sep 11
     
    Detailed timeline of the meat packing indusrty from the 1930s-present; discusses the evolution of unions, steps taken by the government, and internal changes of the industry.
  • Ben R on 30 Sep 11
     
    Shows how little things have changed
  • Ben R on 30 Sep 11
     
    Schlosser says in his book how he feels that little has changed since the times of the chicago meat packing trusts, and this pbs article speaks in support of that claim. It gives examples of how conditions in 2005 are "that the working conditions in America's meat packing plants were so bad they violated basic human and worker rights"
  • Sydney C on 01 Oct 11
     
    Meatpacking industry through the years. This article highlights the way that the meatpacking industry and its ethics/conditions have changed (or not) throughout the years. It argues that things are pretty much as bad as the times of The Jungle.
Evan G

Cornell News: Meatpacking industry violates human rights - 0 views

www.news.cornell.edu/...meatpacking.abuse.ssl.html

the jungle treatment of the worker ethics

shared by Evan G on 29 Sep 11 - Cached
  • "Workers in American beef, pork and poultry slaughtering and processing plants, many of whom are immigrants, perform dangerous, physically demanding and exhausting jobs in bloody, greasy surroundings. The workers not only contend with abuses and an unprecedented volume and pace in sawing and cutting carcasses, but they also experience constant fear and risk, not only for their health and safety but for their jobs if they get hurt or attempt to organize
  • many injured workers, who not uncommonly lose a limb or suffer severe life-threatening injuries, don't get workers' compensation when injured, and government laws, regulations and policies and enforcement fail to protect them.
  • "Meatpacking work has extraordinarily and unnecessarily high rates of injury, musculoskeletal disorders (repetitive stress injuries) and even death. The inherent dangers of meatpacking work are aggravated by ever-increasing line speeds, inadequate training, close-quarters cutting and long hours with few breaks,"
  • Evan G on 29 Sep 11
     
    Talks about the dangers and accidents in meatpacking industries, as well as complaining about how unnecessary these accidents are. A little carefulness and selflessness on the part of the companies would go a long way.
Evan G

A Literary Analysis of The Jungle by Upton Sinclair - Associated Content from Yahoo! - ... - 1 views

www.associatedcontent.com/...analysis_of_the_jungle_by.html

the jungle

shared by Evan G on 29 Sep 11 - No Cached
  • The protagonist Jurgis is immediately overjoyed to have a job, denies to join a union because he is all but ecstatic with the poor working conditions, and believes he is making a good living for his family.
  • The Jungle couldn't be a better title for this book, as the immigrant family is eaten alive by conmen, politicians, dirty employers, lawyers, and shoddy living conditions.
  • Evan G on 29 Sep 11
     
    Really attests to the title of the book, and talks about how cons and other deceitful tactics were used to screw the Rudkuses over. The second and third pages of it are interesting because they describe the book in both socialist AND capitalist points of view, giving a fairer view of Sinclair's words and accusations against capitalism.
Sydney C

Fast-Food Giant Ignores Rights of Workers - 3 views

www.commondreams.org/...0316-10.htm

fast food nation

shared by Sydney C on 29 Sep 11 - No Cached
  • ncreasingly, according to Oxfam, today's globalized economy is characterized by powerful corporations at the top of the product supply chain. "These massive, highly consolidated and vertically-integrated corporations are able to extract value from the supply chain by squeezing costs and offloading responsibility onto those below them--their shippers and suppliers." Suppliers, in turn, try to extract greater value from producers, while producers--with very few variable costs they can cut--"squeeze their labor force," resulting in declining wages and deteriorating work and living conditions
  • roblem, however, is that the company puts the obligation for monitoring and enforcing the code on its suppliers, rather than on itself--yet another example of the corporation at the top of the chain sloughing off responsibilities onto a lower link to avoid additional costs for itself.
  • Evan G on 29 Sep 11
     
    Talks about the corporate strategies to thrive and prosper. The CEOS just want money, so they force the suppliers to make more money. The suppliers have to live up to these standards, so they in turn squeeze the workers out, milking unnecessarily large profits where they could have shared with the worker and still done reasonable well.
  • ...1 more comment...
  • Travis F on 30 Sep 11
     
    "The vow is admirable, according to Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation, who, however, noted in a recent article that Yum! apparently gives higher priority to its responsibility for ensuring the welfare of the animals whose meat it buys than for that of the farm workers who pick the 40 million pounds of tomatoes it buys each year."
  • David D on 30 Sep 11
     
    Didn't realize that people already used this source.
  • Sydney C on 01 Oct 11
     
    The businesses behind farms that provide for fast food companies are under scrutiny for not treating their (mostly immigrant) workers with respect and fairness. They are also buying out smaller farms, and removing a whole class of people from the system.
Ben R

Dangers, tensions lurk in meatpacking industry - 0 views

www.msnbc.msn.com/...ions-lurk-meatpacking-industry

fast food nation

shared by Ben R on 01 Oct 11 - No Cached
  • Ben R on 01 Oct 11
     
    This article supports the claims that were made in FFN, stating that little has changed since the publication of The Jungle. The immigrants are still abused and treated unfairly, though from different parts of the worlds. Unions are still far from an existent factor, and the worker is still treated unjustly.
Zaji Z

Abuses Against Workers Taint U.S. Meat and Poultry | Human Rights Watch - 2 views

www.hrw.org/...kers-taint-us-meat-and-poultry

fast food nation the jungle ethics treatment of the worker

shared by Zaji Z on 01 Oct 11 - No Cached
  • In meat and poultry plants across the United States, Human Rights Watch found that many workers face a real danger of losing a limb, or even their lives, in unsafe work conditions.
  • “A century after Upton Sinclair wrote ‘The Jungle,’ workers in the meatpacking industry still face serious injuries,” said Jamie Fellner, director of the U.S. Program at Human Rights Watch.
  • “When workers try to defend themselves by forming unions, employers use fear and intimidation to stop them,”
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • “The meatpacking companies hire immigrant workers because they are often the only ones who will work under such terrible conditions,”
  • Zaji Z on 01 Oct 11
     
    Reports are out: modern day meatpacking is still considered to be one imposing extreme hazard to the worker. This is only one of the many modern instances of ethical injustice as employers continue to intimidate their workers from creating unions, as described with Fast Food Nation and McDonald's. It is a marriage of Sinclair's eye-opening description of the meatpacking industry and Schlosser's depiction of contemporary business ethics. 
  • Willie C on 04 Oct 11
     
    This is a great source and annotation showing how the horrors of the meatpacking industry first brought up in the Jungle, and later in Fast Food Nation are still going on today. The terrible ethics of these big businesses are still a problem to this day.
  • Evan G on 04 Oct 11
     
    You guys bring up valid points. Honestly it gets frustrating hearing the same topic being incessantly repeated, but it still is a good source about these novels and the poor treatment of the workers. I like how your second quote even relates it to modern times, just like FFN
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