West Columbia chicken plant workers say they were fired for protesting pay, conditions
About a dozen workers at a chicken processing plant in West Columbia were fired Wednesday after protesting for better pay and working conditions amid the coronavirus, according to some of those who said they were fired.
Workers at the House of Raeford chicken plant refused to work under what they consider hazardous conditions without pay to compensate for the increased dangers of the coronavirus, the protesters told The State as they congregated on the sidewalk across Sunset Boulevard from the plant.
“So we were fired,” said Jeff Rainey, a former worker.
A spokesperson for House of Raeford said the company does not comment on personnel matters. The company confirmed employees are not getting hazard pay, adding they were not promised the higher wages.
Last week, a House of Raeford spokesperson told The State no employees at the West Columbia plant had tested positive for the coronavirus and that precautions had been put in place to protect workers.
In their tall rubber boots and hairnets, armed with a megaphone, the former workers protested their firings on Wednesday. They also supported workers still inside the plant who the protesters said aren’t receiving increased pay while working under the hazard of COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus.
Rainey used to make boxes that the processed chicken is shipped in. He worked three to four feet from the next person in what he said were temperatures in the 90s.
“Our health conditions are not adequate,” he said. “There’s no spacing. It’s not sanitary and we’re overworked and underpaid.”
The former workers said House of Raeford had not put in adequate protections to help prevent them from getting the coronavirus.
After nine months of working the processing line cutting chicken shoulders, Naesha Shelton refused to work in the conditions and was fired, she said.
The plant only began putting in protections this week against the coronavirus, she said. The company this week installed dividers between line workers stationed across from each other. Also, the company this week started checking workers’ temperatures, she said..
Still, people on the cutting line have to work “shoulder to shoulder,” Shelton said.
“They could at least give us hazard pay,” she said. “We’re worried about our health. We’re worried about our kids’ health. We’re not asking for too much.”
Workers were given masks, the fired employees said.
No employees at the West Columbia House of Raeford facility have tested positive for the coronavirus, Dave Witter, a spokesman for the North Carolina-based company told The State last week, but there have been “a very small number” at a plant in Greenville.
House of Raeford is following guidance from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Witter told The State.
“In addition to increased hand washing, additional sanitizing practices in public areas, and social distancing where possible, we are taking temperature checks of all employees as they arrive for work each day and offering face masks as part of protective gear.,” Witter said.
Company safety and health personnel received training to identify symptoms of COVID-19, Witter said. And employees are asked to socially distance where they can.
The West Columbia processing plant has 675 employees, he said. The company processes an average of 150,000 chickens a day in West Columbia.
Meatpacking facilities across the nation are being hit hard by the coronavirus. At least 4,400 workers have contracted the disease across 80 plants. In one day, 28 plants closed, according to national media outlets and research groups.
It’s feared the shutdowns — so far affecting beef, pork and sheep butchering — will cause shortages in these commodities in coming weeks.
Jeff Wilkerson and Tracy Glantz contributed to this story.
This story was originally published May 6, 2020 at 5:27 PM.