© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: The Tyson Foods logo is seen in Davos, Switzerland, May 22, 2022. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann/File Photo
By Tom Polansek
(Reuters) – Tyson Foods (NYSE:) workers and activists rallied outside the American meat company’s headquarters in Arkansas on Monday to protest the industry’s use of child labor and push to improve working conditions at processing plants.
Activists and the Biden Administration have pressured the U.S. meat industry to adopt safer labor policies after children hired by contractors were found performing dangerous jobs cleaning slaughterhouses.
Dozens of protesters marched near Tyson’s offices in Springdale, Arkansas, holding signs that read “Stop Child Labor” and “Let Kids Be Kids.” They chanted “Hey hey, ho ho, exploitation has to stop,” according to a live stream of the event on Facebook (NASDAQ:).
Tyson, the largest U.S. meat company by sales, had no immediate comment on the protest. The company’s code of conduct says suppliers are expected to ensure they do not use child labor.
Magaly Licolli, an organizer of the rally, said Tyson needs to do more to keep children out of its supply chain.
“Tyson keeps avoiding the issue by saying they’re not hiring the workers directly,” said Licolli, director of Venceremos, an organization that advocates for poultry workers in Arkansas.
Licolli said he helped two teenagers from Guatemala recover their wages after they were hired by a contractor to harvest chickens at a farm that supplied Tyson and were not initially paid. Tyson did not comment on the incident.
The U.S. Department of Labor said in February that a major food safety sanitation company paid $1.5 million in fines for employing more than 100 teenagers at meatpacking plants, including two Tyson facilities in Arkansas and Tennessee. .
When asked Monday about child labor at meat plants, the Labor Department said its Wage and Hour Division has open investigations at Tyson and Perdue Farms.
Protesters at the rally also called on Tyson to slow down processing lines at poultry plants, carrying a banner that read “Slow down the line, mind the workers.”
