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Sanderson Farms, Inc. responds to recent allegations against poultry industry

Sanderson_Farms_logoLAUREL, Miss. (May 16, 2016) – Sanderson Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ: SAFM) today issued the following statement in response to recent allegations against the poultry industry regarding the treatment of processing line employees by OxFam America in its report entitled “No Relief: Denial of Bathroom Breaks in Poultry Industry”:

Sanderson Farms’ most valuable assets are our employees, and we treat them with dignity, respect and the utmost appreciation for their dedicated work.

Sanderson Farms demonstrates concern for the well-being of our employees by providing a comprehensive benefits package, including both individual and family healthcare coverage plans for all employees, with 75 percent of the cost paid by the Company, along with free healthcare programs ranging from diet and nutrition classes, weight loss programs and exercise plans to smoking cessation programs and free annual health screenings. The Company also provides for employees’ current and future financial well-being by contributing to its employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) at no cost to the employee and matching 401(k) contributions dollar-for-dollar on the first three percent of employee contribution.

Our good relationships with all of our employees is strategic for our company, and our growth over the past 25 years, as well as our future growth, would not be possible without the ability to recruit and retain employees. It is difficult to imagine a successful employee recruitment effort if Sanderson Farms’ working conditions remotely resembled those described by OxFam in its recent report. OxFam’s allegations continue to paint our industry with a broad brush by describing conditions that would, if they existed, be repugnant and contrary to our core principles. These allegations, based on weak methodology and only a handful of mostly anonymous claims, are less than convincing.

Sanderson Farms met with representatives of OxFam in our offices in February regarding alleged concerns similar to those described in its recent report and to discuss a proposal made by OxFam to our shareholders. That proposal was rejected by our shareholders, and we assured OxFam’s representatives that conditions such as those described in its recent report do not exist in our company.

Our policies require all processing plant employees to take regularly scheduled paid breaks, as well as a meal break. In addition to those mandatory breaks, employees take restroom breaks during work time whenever necessary, and the Company does not deny any person the use of restroom breaks. Indeed, companies are required by law to grant their employees access to restrooms. Sanderson Farms strictly follows Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards stating that restroom facilities must be available to employees upon need.

It is true that our employees work on a processing line that does not stop when an employee must leave the line for any reason, including restroom breaks. For this reason, every department in our processing plants is staffed with “floating” employees who are responsible for replacing an employee who needs to leave his or her station for any reason.

Processing plant supervisors, more than half of whom are promoted from line positions themselves, superintendents and managers, are trained in their responsibility to allow restroom breaks during work time. They are given clear, unambiguous instructions to provide restroom breaks whenever such a need occurs. Deviation from these policies is not tolerated, and any supervisor or other management employee found to have violated our policies in this regard would be disciplined, up to and including termination. The number of supervisors in our processing plants who have been promoted from line operators is as high as 77 percent. The idea that those supervisors would tolerate conditions consistent with those described by OxFam in its report is simply not believable. However, if a supervisor or manager violates Company policy in this or any other regard, Sanderson Farms provides workers with multiple opportunities to vocalize complaints or concerns beyond their direct supervisors. Employees have the ability to go directly to plant managers, or to employee relations managers that are available at every facility. Employees also have the option of expressing their concerns without fear of reprisal through an anonymous tip-line or by providing written comment following regularly scheduled training classes conducted at all facilities.

Through an internal investigation into OxFam’s claim conducted through employee interviews, review of tip-line calls and review of union grievances, Sanderson Farms has not verified any complaints regarding lack of access to restroom facilities. Any allegation to the contrary is simply not based in fact and is untrue.

Sanderson Farms, Inc. is engaged in the production, processing, marketing and distribution of fresh and frozen chicken and other prepared food items. Its shares trade on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol SAFM.

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Related story:

U.S. poultry workers forced to wear diapers on job: report

 Friday May 13, 2016
 Written by MA Staff From Manufacturing Automation
May 13, 2016 – A new report from Oxfam America, an arm of the international anti-poverty and injustice group, says poultry workers in the United States labour in a “climate of fear,” with some forced to wear diapers on the job.
The No Relief: Denial of Bathroom Breaks in Poultry Industry report says many workers are afraid to ask for permission to go to the bathroom. The report says a worker at a Simmons Foods plant in Arkansas told Oxfam that she and many others resorted to wearing diapers. A Tyson Foods worker says in the report that many workers at his North Carolina plant “have to urinate in their pants.”“When poultry workers are not allowed to use the bathroom, they suffer in myriad ways, from health risks to humiliation. Denial of regular access to the bathroom is a clear violation of U.S. workplace safety law, and may also violate U.S. anti-discrimination laws, including the Americans with Disabilities Act and civil rights laws outlawing gender and sex discrimination. The harm that results from this denial can be especially acute for women — pregnant women, in particular — and workers with disabilities,” noted the report.

According to The Washington Post, the industry has responded with both concern and denial: “Oxfam says it reached out to all of the companies mentioned in the report, but only heard back from two: Tyson Foods and Perdue. Both said they don’t tolerate the sort of practices mentioned in the report, and cited steps they have taken to make sure working conditions at their processing plants are safe and humane. But only one, Tyson, acknowledged the possibility that there were slip-ups happening under their watch.”

Simmons says the allegations are “troubling” and the refusal of bathroom breaks isn’t tolerated. Tyson says it’s concerned by the claims, but currently has “no evidence they’re true.”

The National Chicken Council says it believes that “such instances are extremely rare.”

Oxfam says the report is part of its continuing campaign to advocate for improved conditions for U.S. poultry workers. The campaign launched in October 2015, with publication of its Lives on the Line: The Human Cost of Cheap Chicken report.

— With files from The Associated Press

For more on this story go to: http://www.automationmag.com/industry-news/news/5938-report-us-poultry-workers-forced-to-wear-diapers-on-job#sthash.Ikoq7c6W.dpuf

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