America Trends Podcast

America Trends Podcast


EP 798 Tyson Foods, The Meatpacking Industry and Workers at Risk

October 02, 2024

This week’s two podcasts feature women journalists writing about subjects that put them at potential risk as they uncover abuses and actions that most in our society are shielded from.  Alice Driver, author of “Life and Death of the American Worker: The Immigrants Taking On America’s Largest Meatpacking Company” lives in Arkansas a state controlled by two dominant businesses: Tyson Foods and Wal-Mart.  She has focused her perceptive and poignant pen on the abuses of workers at Tyson Foods plants, a subject that got some attention during the pandemic, but rarely is reported on.  With a workforce dominated by immigrants, some with papers, others with fake documents, a past CEO of the company admits that without this labor force the company could not operate.  And yet these immigrants, many of whom are just happy to have a job, are left to the many perils that beset one of the most dangerous work environments in the country.  Ms. Driver practices immersive journalism as she learns the stories firsthand from the workers themselves.  It’s a compelling read and listen.