Unsafe Working Conditions for Meatpacking Plant Employees

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The aquarium of life is filled with all sorts of wonderful fish, each having its own purpose: clown fish to entertain, gold and neon tetras to illuminate, emperor plescostomas to rule, sharks to bite, bottom feeders to pick up the waste left behind and of course feeder fish, to be eaten. Unlike its expensive companions a feeder fish is only worth about 7.2 cents. It is kept in crowded, disease infested waters, sold at a pathetic price, and is made to sacrifice its body for the "common good." In man's aquarium there are many different terms for feeder fish: indentured servants, fiefs, peons, sweatshop workers, slaves. Societies have been built by these people, have sustained through the sweat of these people, and (in my opinion) might not have existed today, without the opportunity to exploit these people. In his book, Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser points out the abuses withstood by slaughterhouse workers and argues that humans should be treated as humans, and that as humans, they deserve a safe environment to work in. Schlosser is completely right in my opinion. The federal government should protect workers' safety using the only force most major companies seem to understand: money. The working conditions, of slaughterhouse workers, depicted in Schlosser's book were both horrible and immoral. "Every year more than one-quarter of the meatpacking workers in this country [...] suffer an injury or work-related illness that requires medical attention beyond first aid" (172). When a quarter of the workers are being injured every year one can easily assume that it is not the workers that are causing the injuries, but the system itself. Schlosser even states that "One of the leading determinants of the injury rate at a... ... middle of paper ... ...o do is be educated, and vote. Since most American's vote anyway, I don't believe that it's asking for much. If feeder fish are to swim with the sharks then they are going to need some protection to keep them from becoming dinner. The question then becomes: who shall protect them? The sharks are not likely to put restrictions on them selves, so in the end it needs to be the aquarium owner. As Thomas Jefferson once wrote, the American government was founded for the people and by the people in order to protect and serve the people. Therefore the American Government needs to protect its people from unsafe working conditions, and it can do this by using money as a tool against Corporations who choose to put American citizen's health at risk. We as American citizens have a hand in American policies, and we can change what the government values by voting differently.

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