All across the country, people are working harder for less. Corporations and the wealthy reaped the benefits of the economic recovery while working families and our communities were left behind. Unemployment is down, but poverty is rising as wages decline. That’s why food workers in southwest Ohio are joining the national movement of workers calling for $15 and a union.

Despite the high concentration of Fortune 500 companies in the Cincinnati area, poverty in our region has grown significantly since 2010. Today, nearly one in five children in the tri-state area lives in poverty[1]. Ohioans aren’t poor because they’re not working; they’re poor because their jobs don’t pay a living wage. In almost all of Ohio’s largest occupational categories, wages are too low to bring full-time workers above 150% of the official poverty level[2].

Women and men who work food packing and processing plants perform difficult and dangerous work every day. Many are paid poverty wages and forced to rely on public assistance programs to make ends meet. Food workers are coming together to raise standards in their industry and to bring good jobs back to our communities. They’re organizing a union and calling for all food packing and processing jobs in the region to pay at least $15.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Food Workers Rising?

Food Workers Rising is a movement of food packing and processing workers united to improve their jobs and their industries. Workers have joined together to address issues at individual plants, such as staffing and line speed, inadequate equipment, and unfair or discriminatory policies. At the same time, members of Food Workers Rising are organizing across plants to raise wages and working conditions in southwest Ohio’s food packing and processing industry.

What’s wrong with the food packing and processing industry?

The U.S. food packing and processing industry is increasingly consolidated amongst a small number of mega-corporations. These giant companies do everything they can to keep labor costs as low as possible and production as high as possible. This means hiring cheap labor, maintaining intolerably high line speeds, and illegally threatening and firing workers who try to form unions.

Many companies actively exploit our broken immigration system, purposely recruiting and hiring undocumented immigrants to create a disposable workforce. Many of these workers don’t speak English and aren’t aware of labor laws or their rights on the job. Employers know that these workers will be too afraid to speak up if their paychecks aren’t right, when working conditions are not safe, or even when there’s a potential problem with the food they’re producing.

These companies routinely exploit weak, outdated labor laws to intimidate workers who try to organize unions. When employers are found to have broken the law by threatening or firing workers who organize, they often have to do no more than display a posting at the worksite stating that they won’t do it again. It’s no wonder that employers frequently choose to break the law rather than let workers unionize.

All of this has resulted in an industry where workers have less bargaining power, where it’s becoming harder and harder to earn enough to support families, and where it’s becoming less safe to work.

What is the cost of living for a family in the Cincinnati area?

The Economic Policy Institute estimates the cost of basic necessities for a one-parent, one-child family in the Cincinnati-Middleton area to be about $42,331 a year. The cost of living for a family of 4 is $60,977[3].

Is rising poverty affecting everyone in Ohio equally?

No. In fact, while incomes for the bottom 99% of Ohioans have declined since 1979, incomes for the wealthiest 1% of Ohioans have grown by 70%[4].

In the city of Cincinnati and across the region, poverty rates are significantly higher in communities of color. For whites, poverty is 22.9% in the city of Cincinnati and 11.1% regionally. For African-Americans, poverty is 46.4% in Cincinnati and 39.5% regionally. For Latinos, the poverty rate is 51% in the city and 30.9% regionally[5].

What is AdvancePierre?

AdvancePierre Foods is a private company headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. AdvancePierre workers produce and supply packaged and prepared foods such as sandwiches, cooked meat, and bakery products to school districts, retail supermarkets, vending operators, foodservice providers, and convenience stores throughout out the United States.

AdvancePierre operates plants throughout the Midwest and eastern United States. Workers AdvancePierre’s Cincinnati plant produce more than 600,000 pounds of beef, pork, and chicken products each day.

What do AdvancePierre workers want?

AdvancePierre workers are organizing a union to win fair wages and a voice on the job to advocate for adequate staffing and safe working conditions.

Since workers at AdvancePierre began organizing, the company has responded by illegally disciplining union supporters and making racially discriminatory threats against immigrant employees. Workers are calling on the company to respect their right to organize a union free from threats and intimidation.

[2] Policy Matters Ohio, http://www.policymattersohio.org/sowo-2014

[3] Economic Policy Institute Family Budget Calculator http://www.epi.org/resources/budget/

[4] Policy Matters Ohio, http://www.policymattersohio.org/sowo-2014

[5]City’s child-poverty rate one of the worst in the US. Mark Curnutte. Cincinnati Enquirer. September 19, 2013.