Two workers’ advocacy organizations in Mississippi have vowed to continue pushing for a bill that they say expands basic rights for those employed in the state’s poultry industry. The Mississippi Coalition of Black Trade Unionists and the Coalition of Poultry Workers spoke out about the failed bill, as well as the USDA proposal to speed up line speeds in chicken plants, reports the Clarion Ledger.
Senate Bill 2668, which died Feb. 4 in the Senate Agriculture Committee, would have put into state law requirements that workers get bathroom breaks when they need them, not on a schedule, and that regular breaks are offered from the repetitive motions used to process chickens. The legislation would also have required employers to establish a committee made up of company representatives and a minimum of three employees to address health and safety concerns.