‘A worker who gets injured has the same value as the trash’

At a Monday picket in Melrose, MN East African Jennie-O workers reported serious workplace injuries. One former worker described having her hand stuck in a machine that she was never trained on, for an hour. She alleges that she was fired instead of receiving treatment and surgery.

In response to the allegations a Hormel (which owns Jennie-O) representative sent the following statement over email.

At Jennie-O Turkey Store, we respect the cultures and unique perspectives each of our diverse team members bring to our company and we take pride in working together to be a trusted and admired employer. We have always been proud of being a workplace that meets the needs of all our 7,000 team members and will continue to do so. Our employee code of conduct policy does not tolerate any behaviors counter to this, and we would be glad to refer you to numerous long-termteam members who have wonderful careers at this facility.

Food safety and employee safety are critical priorities for our company, and we take each of them very seriously. We place a great deal of emphasis on ensuring that our team members are well trained and aware of all policies and procedures.

If a current team member has an issue – any issue – there are resources and processes in place to help bring resolution to any and all concerns. In fact, we have an employee hotline that team members can call anonymously to report any issue. Regarding the event at Melrose, we received a letter and are reviewing it.

We celebrate the fact that our team members come from diverse backgrounds, and it is this diversity that makes us the successful company that we are. One team, working together for a common goal.

Filiberto Nolasco Gomez is a former union organizer and former editor of Minneapolis based Workday Minnesota, the first online labor news publication in the state. Filiberto focused on longform and investigative journalism. He has covered topics including prison labor, labor trafficking, and union fights in the Twin Cities.

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