Issues in Food: Exploitation of Workers

The restaurant business is one, if not, the biggest and fastest-growing industry in the United States. Restaurants vary from food trucks to actual establishments inside buildings, but no matter what the location or status of the place is, restaurants employ workers. A vast quantity of these workers receive low wages and have limited benefits. The average pay for restaurant workers, including tips, is ten dollars an hour. Throughout the restaurant industry, many of the workers are actually immigrants and Hispanics who moved from their native countries to the U.S. looking for a better opportunity and a bigger paycheck. Unfortunately for them, the wage is not as high as it should legally be. Most of these Hispanic-working employees work as cooks, dishwashers, or waiters. One of the biggest opportunities granted to workers is retirement plans or something that assures them and grants them a chance to retire at a certain age without having to worry about money.  In 2012, just 34 percent...

Many of the immigrants who work in the U.S. are undocumented, which grants business owners to take advantage of their employees. Even though the vast majority of these immigrants pay billions in taxes, a big amount of these people are also working unauthorized. Numerous workers are undocumented which means they can be deported. Countless times, these workers are taken advantage of by their bosses by not being paid certain wages they have the right to. Sadly, these employees are at a disadvantage due to their illegal working status. They cannot complain about unpaid wages or hazardous working conditions due to the fact that they run the risk of being deported. This gives employers the power to exploit them and underpay them. As immigrants are suppressed, so are their wages.  A study found that 37% of the immigrants working in the United States were victims of minimum wage violations. Some of these people worked more than 40 hours a week and were not paid for overtime spent on work....

These statistics will function as a tool to demonstrate to readers how labor benefits from the exploitation of its worker, the types of victims of exploited workers, and the types of forced labor which happens throughout the food business or any type of business.

While adults make up for most of the fieldworkers and employees, about 500,000 to 800,000 farmworkers are under the age of 18. Additionally,  many of these children are undocumented. Children in agriculture are the least protected by law. Unlike other occupations, children from the age of 12 and on can begin to work on the fields. One of the biggest hazards and dangers that these children face is damages to their bodies due to the working conditions. Many times, farmworkers are doing their jobs near pesticides which can be really harmful to one's body and lead to serious health issues. Since children are still developing both mentally and physically, these working conditions can really take a toll on them.    According to  AFOP : “Adolescents also undergo growth spurts, which may decrease flexibility and increase their susceptibility to a variety of musculoskeletal injuries, such as bursitis, tendonitis, sprains, and carpal tunnel syndrome.” In addition to these phys...

Among the poorest workers in this country are farmers. Many times, even children work in the fields in order to help their parents provide a sustainable life. Due to their efforts in trying to assist their parents, these children miss school and education. Cesar Chavez once said, “Farmworkers are involved in the planting and the cultivation and the harvesting of the greatest abundance of food known in this society. They bring in so much food to feed you and me and the whole country and enough food to export to other places. The ironic thing and the tragic thing is that after they make this tremendous contribution, they don’t have any money or any food left for themselves.”  This statement does not lack truth or is, in any case, hearsay. Farmworkers have the lowest annual family income of any U.S. wage and salary workers.  Based on the most recent National Agricultural Workers Survey (NAWS)– a report published by the U.S. Department of Labor– the average total income of farmwo...

Most of these workers are color or people or a minority who live in rural areas. About 75% are Mexicans who have attained citizenship or have a worker visa. These workers are recruited by contractors after being offered a good job and opportunities, a better quality life. Many times, after the workers arrive at their jobs, they realize they did not sign up for that, they were fooled into believing the lies they were told by the contractor. Employers pay their workers under the table cash wages, which is illegal. Throughout their employment, workers face many dangerous and hazardous situations.  According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, agriculture consistently ranks as one of the most hazardous industries in the United States. Many of the hazards and dangers have to do with the field-workers' health.  Agricultural workers experience increased rates of respiratory diseases, noise-induced hearing loss, skin disorders, certain cancers, exposure to to...

Throughout food production, there are many stages, and many people who work at each stage. Many of these workers are exploited, underpaid immigrants, in search of an opportunity. In the city of New York, fast-food workers were paid around  $10.50 and $9.75 for those workers in the rest of the state during the year 2016. After the realization of these underpayments and how workers deserved to earn more, a campaign for a minimum wage salary began, it was called 'The Fight for 15'. This meant raising the minimum wage up to $15 in the city of New York.  Growing awareness of the lower wages and labor protections of restaurant workers has also led to a heightened focus on the farm and production workers. Many workers had to function and work under poor conditions and in dangerous settings. 

Four million workers in the United States are involved in farming and industrial production of food from animal protein. These individuals, many of whom are women and people of color, play a vital role in helping to meet the public health goal of ensuring an accessible supply of nutritious food. Yet many of these individuals are not paid livable wages, they work in hazardous conditions and face discrimination, and some are excluded from certain labor law protections. Most of these workers lack a suitable and corresponding health care plan provided by their employers which will protect them from any plausible injuries surrounding their work area.  In a Labor Department survey of agricultural workers, only 14% reported having employer-sponsored health insurance, while 37% reported that their family used government-provided health insurance. Throughout history, there has been a pattern that surrounds the lack of help to field workers and agricultural jobs. Due to these conditions and ...

Many immigrants travel and relocate various times, all in search of a better life and better opportunities through which they can see their families grow in a good place.  For the most part, immigrants work near the border and earn a low wage through long workdays under the sun in the summer and cold conditions throughout the winter.  These people have to be in the pedestrian border line at around twelve in the morning and wait for a bus which takes them up to the fields at around three-thirty in the morning. All of these factors demonstrate how none of these conditions are fit for workers, yet many employers take advantage of their employees and exploit them due to their lack of knowledge surrounding labor. Workers attempt to work in the United States due to the low wage in their natal countries. They see the opportunity to work in the USA as a chance to earn a higher income and the benefits that come along with working on the other side of the border, but not many reali...