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Chicken Catchers to Unionize on Virginia Eastern Shore

 

On a 35 to 6 vote a group of chicken catchers on Virginia’s Eastern Shore has voted to unionize.

They work for a Tyson Foods subcontractor.

Ellis Staten, an organizer for the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 27, told the Salisbury Daily Times that the workers have had unsafe transportation to job site have not been given proper safety equipment…and have no insurance benefits.

Staten also says the catchers make $2.10 per one thousand chickens caught.

That’s down from almost $4 per one thousand.        

Despite the fact that a day’s pay is only around $40 Staten told the paper that the workers will not immediate try to restore pay for workers.

                       

Don Rush is the News Director at Delmarva Public Media. An award-winning journalist, Don reports major local issues of the day, from sea level rise, to urban development, to the changing demographics of Delmarva.