The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has received more than 42,000 public comments from UFCW members and the public against the proposed line speed rules. The public comment period for these proposed rules ended on April 20.
The rules would raise the limit on line speeds for poultry from 140 birds per minute to 175 for chicken and 55 birds per minute to 60 for turkey, and remove the limit on line speeds in pork entirely. In total, 22,131 comments were submitted against the poultry rule, and 20,852 against the pork rule.
The UFCW has long opposed increasing line speeds, including the Trump administration’s decision to extend the USDA’s waiver program that allowed certain plants to operate at faster rates. During the first Trump administration, the UFCW won a legal battle to prevent proposed line speed rules from being implemented.
The USDA’s waiver extension in March of last year came two months after multiple studies by the department confirmed the adverse effects of heightened line speeds for poultry and swine processing.
“Throughout this public comment period, UFCW members made clear to the USDA that increased line speeds risk setting their workplaces back decades,” said UFCW International Vice President and Director of the Food Processing, Packing and Manufacturing Division Mark Lauritsen in a statement. “Meatpacking workers know the potential impact of this proposed rule better than any elected official, bureaucrat, or industry talking head.”
“From the beginning, this proposed rule has been in service to the bottom line of the big meatpackers. It flies in the face of the USDA’s own studies about the impact of line speeds on workers in poultry and pork, and will do nothing to lower prices like the administration claims.”
“Workers will find themselves in more dangerous workplaces, consumers will be at risk of buying unsafe meat, and communities will face the possibility of plants closing if this rule is finalized. The UFCW urges the USDA and the Trump administration to abandon this effort. They cannot ignore the voices of thousands of workers who work hard to feed America every day.”