Day of the Dead celebration to highlight workers’ plight

Farmworkers call for poultry labor protections at event in Raleigh

North Carolina farmworker and human rights advocates will gather at Pullen Memorial Baptist Church in Raleigh at 2pm on Sunday, November 1 to celebrate the Day of the Dead / Dia de Los Muertos by honoring fallen field and poultry workers. After the event, which will include a time for workers to speak and a moment of silence, attendees will have a time to share food and drink together.

What: Day of the Dead celebration in remembrance of farmworkers and press conference
When: Sunday, November 1, 2015 at 2:00 PM
Where: Pullen Memorial Baptist Church, 1801 Hillsborough St., Raleigh 27605
RSVP: https://www.facebook.com/events/1636617076588854/

NC State AFL-CIO president James Andrews will speak at the event on Sunday, joining representatives from Student Action with Farmworkers, Western North Carolina Workers Center, Pullen Memorial Baptist Church, and the farm and poultry worker community.

Organized by the Farmworker Advocacy Network, the Day of the Dead event in Raleigh comes on the heels of a damning report by Oxfam America on the treatment of poultry workers in North Carolina and across the United States.

The poultry industry is booming. Consumer demand is growing and profits are climbing. Executive compensation is soaring.

Even the lives of chickens have begun to improve as consumers have voiced concern for their treatment. But one key part of this rocketing industry has been left behind: the people who work processing poultry. Every day, hundreds of thousands of workers become disposable parts of a large, fast, relentless machine.

Check out Lives on the Line, the immersive, multimedia website created by Oxfam America to get a sense of what it's like to work in a poultry plant today.

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