Slog Comments
Today in Industrial Accidents
2
I don't know what tuna canning plants are like in california, or what the tuna canning industry is like in general, but my cousin ran a steam oven at a salmon canning plant in Alaska for a year.
The work is basically this: 18-20 hour days, 7 days a week, half of the workforce doesn't speak english at all (making safety orders a challenge), wages are based on productivity, etc., etc. He made somethink like 30k in 6 months (it's seasonal work) and had an offer to go back at a 25% wage increase. He didn't because of the stress.
He never saw anybody killed, but he saw dozens of undocumented and young uninsured workers with horrible cuts up to and including severed tendons in their hands from cutting fish with razor sharp knives and 4 hours sleep in 3 days.
The work is basically this: 18-20 hour days, 7 days a week, half of the workforce doesn't speak english at all (making safety orders a challenge), wages are based on productivity, etc., etc. He made somethink like 30k in 6 months (it's seasonal work) and had an offer to go back at a 25% wage increase. He didn't because of the stress.
He never saw anybody killed, but he saw dozens of undocumented and young uninsured workers with horrible cuts up to and including severed tendons in their hands from cutting fish with razor sharp knives and 4 hours sleep in 3 days.
5
We had a family friend growing up who met a similar fate at the Blue Star Canned Chicken factory in Council Bluffs. He was just working there in the summertime, and was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
His brother went on to die on 9-11. He was one of the attendees at the conference in Windows on the World.
His brother went on to die on 9-11. He was one of the attendees at the conference in Windows on the World.
7
@4.. i said 'one of' because i think 'jo jo dancer, your life is calling' is seriously underrated.
Comments (7) RSS