Report Examines U.S. Food Sector Workers

The Food Chain Workers Alliance has issued a report claiming that most U.S.
workers across the food sector—from production, processing, distribution,
retail, and service—earn low wages with few health benefits, a situation that
can pose safety risks to both employees and the public.

Titled “The Hands That Feed Us: Challenges and Opportunities for Workers
Along the Food Chain,” the 92-page report based its findings on nearly
700 surveys and interviews with employers and workers in the sector,
which employs 20 million people and comprises one-sixth of the country’s
workforce.

Among the report’s findings of workers surveyed: (i) more than 86 percent
reported earning low or poverty wages, (ii) 79 percent said they either do not
have a single paid sick day or do not know if they do, (iii) 83 percent do not
receive health insurance from their employers, (iv) 53 percent admitted to
working while sick, (v) 57 percent reported an injury or health problem on the
job, (vi) 35 percent reported using the emergency room for primary health
care, (vii) 52 percent said they did not receive health and safety training from
their employers, and (viii) 33 percent said they were not always provided
necessary equipment to do their jobs.

The report recommended, among other things, that policymakers increase
the minimum wage for tipped workers and “improve food safety and the
public’s health by guaranteeing food system workers health benefits such as
paid sick days and access to health care.” It also suggested that consumers
educate “food justice advocates about the need to include sustainable
working conditions for food workers within the definition of sustainable food.”