Beyond Factory Farming Coalition

Family Farms Not Factory Farms

ILO working conditions

Labour and Factory Farming

Workers in factory farms in most provinces are excluded from labour laws the apply to other industrial workers, as companies take advantage of exemptions designed decades ago for family farms that employed hired hands.

Workers in hog barns are exposed to much higher levels of dust, ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, noise, smell than are farmers in smaller scale operations due to the difference in the amount of time each spends in barns.

“Worker health risks can be significantly reduced through a comprehensive program of environmental monitoring and control by use of management practices, engineering controls, judicial use of personal protective equipment, and health surveillance. However such programs are exceedingly rare in today’s swine industry.”

Workers then, are paying some of the costs of intensive hog production with their health.

Workers compensation coverage is not mandatory for factory farms, and workers face many threats to their health and safety in the mega barn environment. Respiratory disease is a major issue.

Wages are low and turn-over is high. Only one hog barn in all of North America (Bear Hills, Saskatchewan) is unionized. This was accomplished after a long struggle. There is increasing pressure from the industry to allow migrant Mexican workers in to work in the mega barns.

Mexican “guest workers” have been brought in to staff Maple Leaf’s Brandon slaughter house. The plant has gotten permission to go to a second shift, which has implications for health and safety, and one wonders where the additional workers will come from if running a single shift required Mexicans.

Factory farm proponents often list job creation as one of the benefits, but they fail to mention how few jobs are created in comparison to the number of farm livelihoods that are displaced when industrial livestock production squeezes out family farms. Jobs per barn are fairly low 5 people are hired to run a 600 sow operation, and 9 for a 1200 sow operation. A Missouri study showed that larger barns displace 28 workers for every 9 they employ. Large hog barns result in a net decrease in employment.

More pigs and fewer people making a living by raising them

  • The number of hog farmers in Canada has gone from 33,760 in 1988 to 11,565 in 2002. Of the farms that were raising hogs in 1988, corporate and government policies have since forced 66% out of production.
  • During the same period, the number of pigs on farms went up by 3,615,200. See Description of Canadian hog farms.
  • If they had been raised on farms in 2002 the same way they were in 1988, there would have been over 45,000 farmers raising pigs. The low-paying, hazardous jobs created in the factory farming system in effect replaced nearly 44,000 family farmers!

Working in the factory farming sector

Labour rights and labour standards

Worker health and safety

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