Petition: Demand Case Farms let poultry workers use bathroom
Can you believe this s**t?
Ridiculous as it may sound, North Carolina poultry workers need our help to be able to go to the bathroom because their employer, Case Farms, is refusing to allow employees to relieve themselves when needed, in violation of OSHA standards and, we might add, basic human decency.
Western North Carolina Workers Center alerted us to the problem with an online petition targeting Jason Arnold, Plant Manager for Case Farms in Morganton, NC:
We need your support as people of conscience. Case Farms poultry workers do not have access to go to the bathroom when needed. This problem was identified and prioritized by Case Farms workers. Case Farms is violating the law because OSHA standards require Case Farms to let workers use the bathroom when needed.
We all know the importance of being able to use the bathroom and medical studies show that restricted access to a bathroom can make you sick:
- Holding it” can cause increased frequency of urinary tract infections (UTIs), which can lead to more serious infections and, in rare situations, kidney damage.
- UTIs during pregnancy have been associated with low birth weight babies, who are at risk for additional health problems.
- If you delay going to the restroom, you are more likely to suffer from abdominal pain, constipation, diverticuli, and hemorrhoids.
According to the petition, many workers have taken gone so far as "wearing adult diapers because they know they will not have the opportunity to go to the bathroom when they need to."
Let that sink in for a moment... A company that processes the food some of us eat is forcing many of its line workers to use the bathroom in their pants, on the factory line, while they're working.
We need your help to demand that the plant manager of Case Farms Poultry Plant in Morganton, NC adapt a reasonable policy that provides bathroom breaks within 10 minutes of a worker asking to go to the bathroom when they need to and assures that the policy is carried out by line supervisors. We also demand that Case Farms enforces this new policy in an agreed upon manner with the workers.