I hope you don’t mind a little salmonella and E. coli in your chicken. Because if the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) gets its way, chicken contaminated with disease, feathers and other really disgusting stuff could be on its way to your dinner plate within the year. We count on USDA inspectors to help us keep our families safe and healthy. But the USDA wants to save money by throwing about 1,000 of them out of work. About 3,000 Americans die from food-borne illnesses each year. But instead of doing more to protect our families, the USDA is taking budget cuts out on the inspectors we need. Not only would about 1,000 get the boot—the inspectors who keep their jobs would be told to inspect 175 chickens per minute. That’s more than three chickens per second! Working people like us, and like USDA inspectors, take pride in our work. We work hard and make a difference. USDA’s “dirty chicken” rule would take that away while endangering our families. Sign the petition against the “dirty chicken” rule TODAY. This week, food inspection workers (members of the AFGE) rallied outside the This new inspection system for poultry slaughter plants is another example of attacks on everyday working people while billionaires and corporations are getting tax breaks. And this time, it’s putting our kids and families at risk while taking jobs away from people we count on. It’s shocking. Only by standing together can we save the jobs of hundreds of federal workers who we count on to protect our families. Thanks for the work you do. In solidarity, Manny Herrmann P.S. In his new book, Rebuild the Dream, Van Jones, a former Obama White House adviser on green jobs and an award-winning human rights activist, maps out how to turn Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s and the American Dream into reality. |
Be a Seed for Change 
You must be logged in to post a comment.