Poultry Workers Forced to Wear Diapers

International poverty and justice advocacy group Oxfam said poultry workers were routinely made to wear diapers in deplorable working conditions. 

On 9 May 2016, anti-poverty and social justice advocacy group Oxfam released a report alleging that poultry workers were subjected to deplorable working conditions, among them that they were routinely denied bathroom breaks and forced to wear diapers.


A summary of the published report (titled: "No relief: Denial of bathroom breaks in the poultry industry") condensed claims made by workers:
Chicken is the most popular meat in America, and the poultry industry is booming. But workers on the processing line do not share in the bounty. 

Poultry workers 1) earn low wages of diminishing value, 2) suffer elevated rates of injury and illness, and 3) often experience a climate of fear in the workplace.
Despite this, though, workers themselves say that the thing that offends their dignity most is simple: lack of adequate bathroom breaks, and the suffering that entails, especially for women.

Routinely, poultry workers say, they are denied breaks to use the bathroom. Supervisors mock their needs and ignore their requests; they threaten punishment or firing. Workers wait inordinately long times (an hour or more), then race to accomplish the task within a certain timeframe (e.g., ten minutes) or risk discipline.

Workers struggle to cope with this denial of a basic human need. They urinate and defecate while standing on the line; they wear diapers to work; they restrict intake of liquids and fluids to dangerous degrees; they endure pain and discomfort while they worry about their health and job security. And it’s not just their dignity that suffers: they are in danger of serious health problems.

The situation strikes women particularly hard. They face biological realities such as menstruation, pregnancy, and higher vulnerability to infections; and they struggle to maintain their dignity and privacy when requesting breaks. Supervisors deny requests to use the bathroom because they are under pressure to maintain the speed of the processing line, and to keep up production.