On January 28, workers reported to Foundation Food Group’s Gainesville, George chicken processing plant like they did every morning, to perform grueling, dangerous work in the midst of a global pandemic. Then, a deadly nitrogen leak from a refrigeration system used to flash-freeze chicken killed six essential workers and sickened dozens more. Like many workplace health and safety accidents, the Foundation Food Group plant accident was tragic and preventable—another case of production over people.
The weekend after the accident, I joined legal advocates from across the country in Gainesville, Georgia to meet with workers affected by the chemical leak at a legal clinic organized by the grassroots organization, Georgia Familias Unidas. I sat with one woman, six-feet apart, our masks separating us, her hands trembling, as she told me about how her coworkers were killed in the accident and that she had been experiencing a persistent headache for days. I asked her if she had seen a doctor and she shook her head no. Over the course of the day, I learned that Foundation Food Group had actively discouraged workers, most of whom were undcoumented Latinx workers, from speaking to anyone moments after the accident. This meant that workers were afraid to go to the doctor or to speak to investigators. Unfortunately, the stories I heard on Sunday were very familiar.
When I worked with the U.S. Department of Labor, I litigated dozens of workplace health and safety cases—including cases involving chemical leaks. I spoke with workers who were sickened by chemicals at work and faced lingering, debilitating lung illnesses—some whose conditions will harm them for the rest of their lives. I saw firsthand the devastating consequences of what happens when employers in plants like Foundation Food Group’s prioritize line speed and production goals over worker health and safety. Now, as a Supervising Attorney at Centro de los Derechos del Migrante, Inc., a binational migrant workers’ rights organization, I represent migrant and immigrant workers in employment cases.
Undocumented workers and workers with temporary visas face overwhelming hurdles in filing workplace health and safety complaints with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) becasuse they rightly fear that their employers will retaliate against them if they complain about unsafe working conditions. And they’re right. Workers are routinely fired, or worse, threatened with deportation, after making safety and health complaints or whistleblower complaints. Making matters worse, OSHA is overburdened and underfunded.
But we can fix this.
In order to prevent future workplace accidents, like the one that occured at the Foundation Food Group plant, OSHA investigations must be robust, thorough, and accessible to all workers. One way to make that happen is to ensure that all workers feel empowered to come forward and freely participate in OSHA investigations without fear that their immigration status will be used as a cudgel against them.
The accident at the Foundation Food Group plant demonstrates how important it is for OSHA to become a U Visa certifying agency. U Visas are special visas for survivors of certain crimes, such as obstruction of justice or witness tampering, that are helpful in the investigation or prosecution of those crimes. While the Department of Labor (“DOL”) has statutory authority to certify U Visa certification requests, the agency has not yet delegated certification authority to OSHA. This means that if a worker was exposed to a deadly chemical, like the workers at Foundation Food Group were, and then was threatened with deportation, OSHA could not certify a U Visa request.
This is absurd and easily remedied. The Biden Administration should immediately direct OSHA to start processing U Visa certifications. The Department of Labor should immediately seek deferred action, a form of immigration relief, for the 130 workers exposed to deadly liquid nitrogen at the Foundation Food Group plant.
The federal government has labeled poultry workers as essential during the pandemic. If the federal government truly believes that, then these workers should have every opportunity to defend their safety and health rights, regardless of their status.
Melanie Stratton Lopez is Supervising Attorney at Centro de los Derechos del Migrante, Inc. (CDM). Follow CDM on Facebook and Twitter to stay up to date on the latest developments.