JBS hires its own cleaning crew in Marshalltown after contractor's child labor law violations
In the wake of a $1.5 million fine against its former cleaning contractor for child labor violations, meatpacker JBS USA has launched its own sanitation service at facilities including its Marshalltown pork plant.
JBS announced the plan in April, saying it had cut ties with Packers Sanitation Services after that company admitted employing about 100 children at several Midwestern JBS plants. A notice PSSI filed with Iowa Workforce Development in late June said it had laid off 125 Marshalltown employees.
According Roger Kail, president of Marshalltown-based United Food & Commercial Workers Local 1155, JBS is more than making up for the lost jobs. Kail said company has hired "a little short" of 100 employees to clean the factory and plans to hire about 40 more.
Kail said the new JBS hires, represented by the union, will have starting wages of about $21.50 an hour, up from the $19.75 paid by PSSI.
"They’re better jobs," Kail said. "They get better insurance. They’ll get better benefits. They’ll get 401(k)s. They’ll fall under all that stuff."
A spokesperson for PSSI did not respond to emails seeking comment.
Kail said that, without resistance from JBS, most of the workers are joining the union and UFCW representatives met with them at the factory June 27. As of March, Local 1155 had about 4,000 members in Iowa and Minnesota.
JBS USA CEO Wesley Batista Filho said in early May that the company would launch the in-house cleaning service after the U.S. Department of Labor fined Wisconsin-based PSSI for violating federal labor laws. The federal government deems slaughterhouse work hazardous and prohibits hiring workers under 18 for those jobs.
PSSI admitted to have workers ages 13 to 17 clean 13 slaughterhouses. None were in Iowa.
Cargill and Tyson Foods also have ended contracts with PSSI.
JBS spokesperson Nikki Richardson said in an email June 30 that the company has so far staffed cleaning services with its own employees at 10 factories, including in Marshalltown.
For its part, PSSI announced that CEO Dan Taft will retire at the end of the year, to be replaced by longtime Ecolab executive Tim Mulhare. The company also launched a $10 million charitable fund for "enhancing the well-being of children in the communities we serve."
The UFCW and PSSI also announced an agreement June 22, in which the company will allow the union to offer membership to all sanitation employees.
Kail said his local recently signed up 15 PSSI employees at a Smithfield Foods plant in Mason City. He said the union's involvement should prevent further wide-scale child labor violations.
"I don’t know if we’re supposed to be watching them," Kail said. "But we probably get a better look at them when they’re union. ... I can’t swear that won't happen. But I kind of doubt it."
A revised Iowa child labor law would have permitted minors to work in meatpacking plants. But the provision was removed before the Legislature approved the law in May.
Tyler Jett is an investigative reporter for the Des Moines Register. Reach him at tjett@registermedia.com, 515-284-8215, or on Twitter at @LetsJett. He also accepts encrypted messages at tjett@proton.me.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: JBS hires own cleaning crew after contractor's child labor law fine
