FOOD POLICY
Shocking as Sinclairs Jungle was the comment received by Schlossers Fast Food industry when it came out when the world was dawning into the twenty-first century. It is an analysis of the most complex and dramatic upheaval that happened to the American fast food industry and American economy. The same policies that brought a dramatic upheaval, with all it negative aspects are coming to dominate other areas of American economy and also common life. Standing neck to neck with the book Macdonaldization by George Ritzer, it tries to establish that the Macdonaldization of the country has happened.
By the latter end of the 1970s women were entering the job market by the bulk and this made a demand on the services performed by them at home. While three quarters of the money for food was used to prepare food at home, now half of it is used to buy fast food. The Macdonalds is the largest purchaser of beef, pork and tomatoes-and the second largest purchaser of chicken. It is the largest owner of retail property in the world. It earns majority of its income not from selling food but from collecting rent. Its highest expenditure is in the field of advertising and marketing, replacing Coco cola from the top of the list. The firms symbols are recognized throughout America by children and it is second only to Santa Claus in popularity. A company such as this would carry a political and economic clout, beyond imagination.
The purchasing power and demand of the fast food chains influence the cattle industry by specifying the methods by which cattle are to be raised, slaughtered and processed. Due to mass production, the packing of meat which was a highly skilled work, has now become very dangerous. In 1960, when Iowa Beef Packers opened their meat packing company, they designed the plant in such a way that the need for skilled workers was eliminated. The only thing that stood in their way was the gains made by the workers after Sinclairs book. They could win only if they had access to cheap and powerless workforce without the interference of labor unions.
They, with this aim created mass production units needing only unskilled workforce which were located in rural areas. This meant that the laborers were unprotected by the citys labor unions. With the diversification into other areas they drove small time processors and wholesalers out of business. The IBP believed that conducting business was like conducting war. Holman was fined but still went about bribing and influencing the union leaders and top government officials for extending his business. The local meat packing industry that once employed 40,000 people now employs only 2,000, a very dramatic decline. The tale of big fish eating small fish became the story of meat packing industry in 1983 and everything was being swallowed up by the corporate giants. President Reagans Justice Department sided with the corporate sector against Ken Monfort, in the takeover issue of Excel. Thus it is evident that the administration always sided with the big giants. It did not oppose the disappearance of hundreds of small time meatpacking firms. .
Monfort, after the merger with ConAgra foods, depends mainly on immigrant workers. He manages to recruit new immigrants with meager pay, for a very short period, thus cutting out annual leave and health insurance. These cannot be unionized and are easy to control. IBP hires workers from thousand of miles away, from New York New Jersey, California and even Rhode Island. The Immigration and Naturalization Service estimates that about one quarter of all meat packing workers in Iowa and Nebraska are illegal immigrants. Such is the political clout of these companies that legislations are made and broken for them. The governor of Nebraska was frightened by Mike Harper of the Con Agra into giving them a number of tax breaks. Even with all the howling against the concessions the company received the breaks because Nebraska was afraid that the company would shift its head quarters and thus lose one of its private employers. And it was easy for them too.
The next chapter is a visit to the inhumane slaughterhouse where workers, stickers, knockers, Shacklers, Knuckle droppers, splitters Feel kill chain are all names of the inhumane brutality the workers are forced to commit for daily bread. It is the most dangerous job in the USA. One out of three workers need medical aid every year. From Tendonitis and cumulative trauma to Lacerations, the injuries vary. Their lives depend on the speed of the disassembly line. This unrelenting pressure induces workers to take methamphetamine which makes them confident and cranky. Annual bonuses of plant foremen and supervisors in the plant are based on the injury rate of the workers. So it gives a tendency not to report accidents. If the worker agrees not to report injuries he or she will be given easier work for a time so that injuries would heal. The unhealed worker is a nuisance and he or she is encouraged to quit by cutting hisher hourly wages and through a wide variety of means.
The OSHA who should look into the conditions of the working plants are not allowed to inside the factory if the accident rate is registered as below the national level. But, when the number of serious injuries rises, the number inspections go down somehow. As it is, it just helps to reduce the number of reported injuries. A state like Colorado which had passed the compensation laws has now introduced stricter laws for workers to get compensation. It gave away the privilege of selecting the doctor for the injured to the company and gave much power to the doctor of the company to decide the compensation. In cases like that of Kenny Dobbins sited in the book this power has been misused. The illiterate and ignorant workers were cheated of their claims often by the doctors and the company.
Review and opinions
Schlosser expounds in his book that there is a direct link between a nations identity and its cuisine. The average American is a man or woman who eats hamburgers and French fries. The big time companies who provide these have altered not only the cuisine of the country by is agriculture, economics and social life. It has changed towns and companies, swallowed small time wholesalers and retailers, imperiled American health and individual livelihood. But these facts when expounded get the reader exclaiming But it tastes so good. This is the real problem according to Schlosser. The food is carefully designed and chemically enhanced. It taste is more about the chemical engineers and scientists and not about the chefs in the kitchen. We dont know what is it that we eat with so much taste and our ignorance exposes us to great danger.
The greatest revelation that Schlosser starts with in his introduction is that one out of eight Americans have worked at least once with the Macdonalds. The influence of this International brand is unimaginable. The book goes beyond just the American cuisine. The big time fast food companies are able to deflate the wages, encourage monopoly practices in agricultural processing and change everything around the country into something that is sellable.
But taking the flip side of the coin, the reader is bound to ask, is it that the public should find fault for a company for delivering a product to consumers in the most efficient and cost effective manner. After all, nobody forces them to go to the fast food shop. The companies unconsciously foster a uniformity throughout which cannot be created by the government. Isnt it good enough that extent at least If the butchers table is bloody should the company let the killing be done by someone else If it makes anyones stomach retch, will he stop eating beef
Around the middle of the book, the author exposes the schemes and tricks including bribing played by the owners like Holman. If an employee has an accident, he is made to sign a paper that he will not sue the company before any medical aid is given. As per the labor law the members are eligible for extra benefits if the continuous work time reaches forty hours. This is carefully avoided by carefully monitoring employee work hours, making workers ineligible. Such practices should be stopped, and there is no doubt about it. The story of Kenny Dobbins should not be allowed to be repeated.
Whereas a corporation in the field like the Macdonalds, had just one thousand restaurants over the country, today it has become more than twenty eight thousand and every year two thousand more are added to the list. Interestingly, Schlosser indicates that the fast food industry has become what it is today by certain political and economic choices. It is these choices that must be recognized and uprooted for the benefit of our children. Because children or people barely older than children prepare this food and children are fed by his food. The industry feeds and feeds off the children. That calls for some really fast action ( Schlosser).
By the latter end of the 1970s women were entering the job market by the bulk and this made a demand on the services performed by them at home. While three quarters of the money for food was used to prepare food at home, now half of it is used to buy fast food. The Macdonalds is the largest purchaser of beef, pork and tomatoes-and the second largest purchaser of chicken. It is the largest owner of retail property in the world. It earns majority of its income not from selling food but from collecting rent. Its highest expenditure is in the field of advertising and marketing, replacing Coco cola from the top of the list. The firms symbols are recognized throughout America by children and it is second only to Santa Claus in popularity. A company such as this would carry a political and economic clout, beyond imagination.
The purchasing power and demand of the fast food chains influence the cattle industry by specifying the methods by which cattle are to be raised, slaughtered and processed. Due to mass production, the packing of meat which was a highly skilled work, has now become very dangerous. In 1960, when Iowa Beef Packers opened their meat packing company, they designed the plant in such a way that the need for skilled workers was eliminated. The only thing that stood in their way was the gains made by the workers after Sinclairs book. They could win only if they had access to cheap and powerless workforce without the interference of labor unions.
They, with this aim created mass production units needing only unskilled workforce which were located in rural areas. This meant that the laborers were unprotected by the citys labor unions. With the diversification into other areas they drove small time processors and wholesalers out of business. The IBP believed that conducting business was like conducting war. Holman was fined but still went about bribing and influencing the union leaders and top government officials for extending his business. The local meat packing industry that once employed 40,000 people now employs only 2,000, a very dramatic decline. The tale of big fish eating small fish became the story of meat packing industry in 1983 and everything was being swallowed up by the corporate giants. President Reagans Justice Department sided with the corporate sector against Ken Monfort, in the takeover issue of Excel. Thus it is evident that the administration always sided with the big giants. It did not oppose the disappearance of hundreds of small time meatpacking firms. .
Monfort, after the merger with ConAgra foods, depends mainly on immigrant workers. He manages to recruit new immigrants with meager pay, for a very short period, thus cutting out annual leave and health insurance. These cannot be unionized and are easy to control. IBP hires workers from thousand of miles away, from New York New Jersey, California and even Rhode Island. The Immigration and Naturalization Service estimates that about one quarter of all meat packing workers in Iowa and Nebraska are illegal immigrants. Such is the political clout of these companies that legislations are made and broken for them. The governor of Nebraska was frightened by Mike Harper of the Con Agra into giving them a number of tax breaks. Even with all the howling against the concessions the company received the breaks because Nebraska was afraid that the company would shift its head quarters and thus lose one of its private employers. And it was easy for them too.
The next chapter is a visit to the inhumane slaughterhouse where workers, stickers, knockers, Shacklers, Knuckle droppers, splitters Feel kill chain are all names of the inhumane brutality the workers are forced to commit for daily bread. It is the most dangerous job in the USA. One out of three workers need medical aid every year. From Tendonitis and cumulative trauma to Lacerations, the injuries vary. Their lives depend on the speed of the disassembly line. This unrelenting pressure induces workers to take methamphetamine which makes them confident and cranky. Annual bonuses of plant foremen and supervisors in the plant are based on the injury rate of the workers. So it gives a tendency not to report accidents. If the worker agrees not to report injuries he or she will be given easier work for a time so that injuries would heal. The unhealed worker is a nuisance and he or she is encouraged to quit by cutting hisher hourly wages and through a wide variety of means.
The OSHA who should look into the conditions of the working plants are not allowed to inside the factory if the accident rate is registered as below the national level. But, when the number of serious injuries rises, the number inspections go down somehow. As it is, it just helps to reduce the number of reported injuries. A state like Colorado which had passed the compensation laws has now introduced stricter laws for workers to get compensation. It gave away the privilege of selecting the doctor for the injured to the company and gave much power to the doctor of the company to decide the compensation. In cases like that of Kenny Dobbins sited in the book this power has been misused. The illiterate and ignorant workers were cheated of their claims often by the doctors and the company.
Review and opinions
Schlosser expounds in his book that there is a direct link between a nations identity and its cuisine. The average American is a man or woman who eats hamburgers and French fries. The big time companies who provide these have altered not only the cuisine of the country by is agriculture, economics and social life. It has changed towns and companies, swallowed small time wholesalers and retailers, imperiled American health and individual livelihood. But these facts when expounded get the reader exclaiming But it tastes so good. This is the real problem according to Schlosser. The food is carefully designed and chemically enhanced. It taste is more about the chemical engineers and scientists and not about the chefs in the kitchen. We dont know what is it that we eat with so much taste and our ignorance exposes us to great danger.
The greatest revelation that Schlosser starts with in his introduction is that one out of eight Americans have worked at least once with the Macdonalds. The influence of this International brand is unimaginable. The book goes beyond just the American cuisine. The big time fast food companies are able to deflate the wages, encourage monopoly practices in agricultural processing and change everything around the country into something that is sellable.
But taking the flip side of the coin, the reader is bound to ask, is it that the public should find fault for a company for delivering a product to consumers in the most efficient and cost effective manner. After all, nobody forces them to go to the fast food shop. The companies unconsciously foster a uniformity throughout which cannot be created by the government. Isnt it good enough that extent at least If the butchers table is bloody should the company let the killing be done by someone else If it makes anyones stomach retch, will he stop eating beef
Around the middle of the book, the author exposes the schemes and tricks including bribing played by the owners like Holman. If an employee has an accident, he is made to sign a paper that he will not sue the company before any medical aid is given. As per the labor law the members are eligible for extra benefits if the continuous work time reaches forty hours. This is carefully avoided by carefully monitoring employee work hours, making workers ineligible. Such practices should be stopped, and there is no doubt about it. The story of Kenny Dobbins should not be allowed to be repeated.
Whereas a corporation in the field like the Macdonalds, had just one thousand restaurants over the country, today it has become more than twenty eight thousand and every year two thousand more are added to the list. Interestingly, Schlosser indicates that the fast food industry has become what it is today by certain political and economic choices. It is these choices that must be recognized and uprooted for the benefit of our children. Because children or people barely older than children prepare this food and children are fed by his food. The industry feeds and feeds off the children. That calls for some really fast action ( Schlosser).
Categories:
0 comments:
Post a Comment