Cogs in the Great Machine

1. Cogs in the Great Machine By: Logan Leathem, Erica Osborne, and Olivia Winstead

2. Author This chapter exposes the abuses of one of the nation’s largest industries and a company that invades all of our lives. Evidence and arguments were successfully argued, including factual, government evidence and his own experiments. ConAgra, a company that processes nearly all types of food today, is the focus of the chapter.

3. Greeley Home to the nation’s largest food processing complex Owned by ConAgra Labor is predominantly illegal immigrants Wages are one third lower than they were forty years ago. The cows are corn and grain fed, not grass fed.

4. The Jungle Written by Upton Sinclair Exposed unfair, unsafe, and unhealthy working conditions in the meat packing industry. Provoked Theodore Roosevelt to order an investigation. Public cared more about their meat than the conditions of the workers.

5. IBP Moved out west to avoid unions and get lower wages Caused the degradation of the labor force by removing all the skill from the job Workers became replaceable, working only six months, on average Bribed union leaders, meat wholesalers and had ties to organized crime

6. Other Findings Most workers live below the poverty line. Two-thirds cannot speak English and one-third are not literate in any language. The building of meat processing centers caused drastic increases in crime.

7. Bias The author was very anti-meat packing corporations, but who can blame him with so many abuses?