It is no easy matter to stop the industrial activity in a city of 700,000 people. The Seattle General Strike was the beginning of a wave of strikes, but it was also practice at what it will be like when people democratically take control of all industries. The following is from the intrepid newsletter Animal Lib NW, whose reporters found workers, mainly from Mexico and Central America, brandishing picket signs outside the largest slaughterhouse in the state. Animals who are supposed to be stunned and rendered unconscious with stun guns and bullets move down the line fully conscious and in distress, often flailing and even falling off hooks onto the 'kill line,' injuring workers on a daily basis. One worker shared gruesome accounts of suffering, terrified animals being regularly skinned alive at his station.
Workers suffer also and point to scars, bruises and permanent back injuries.
They also don't have time to sanitize slabs of meat that fall to the floor and become contaminated. Because of the continual push for increased production and line speeds, workers are frequently denied bathroom breaks. Clearly, IBP treats animals and workers like so much offal.