Separately, Perdue faces an overtime lawsuit from more than 100 of its local catchers. They're making good money. But many catchers complain their paychecks have stayed flat or shrunk over the last two decades as companies have consolidated. Company executives counter that catching, although unpleasant, is decent work for good money. It's physical work.
People know what it is when they do it.
Full-timers move from company to company, seeking a better deal, forcing crew leaders to round out crews on short notice with the freelancing hustlemen. Each plant dispatches catching teams. Crew leaders will get a few hours' notice from slaughterhouse supervisors on where to go that day. They may range north into Delaware, south into Virginia, or nearly as far west as the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. The Mountaire crew has been working for less than an hour when Steve Collins, a round-faced man in a company polo shirt, pulls up.