How the meatpacking industry exemplifies the challenges of American workers

In her new book, Alice Driver explores the the toxic labor practices of the American meatpacking industry and its impact on workers.

Angelina and Plácido began working at Tyson Foods, the largest meatpacking company in the United States, the year the Twin Towers fell. Tyson Foods was founded in Springdale, Arkansas, in 1935 and is still headquartered there. It is the second largest global meatpacking company. It employs 141,000 people and operates 241 plants in the US, including facilities in twenty Arkansas communities. A Tyson facility is like a black hole, and nothing in a town escapes the pull of the billion-dollar company. Tyson’s supplies grocery and restaurant chains like Arkansas-based Walmart, McDonald’s, and Burger King, in addition to countless schools and prisons. In 2022, the company reported $53 billion in sales and produced one out of every five pounds of chicken, beef, and pork sold in America. Tyson is one of the top three meat suppliers to Walmart, and sales to Walmart account for about 18% of the meatpacking company’s annual sales.