Following a letter sent by the U.S. Department of Agriculture regarding child labor issues in the meat packing sector, JBS USA has ended their contracts with Packer Sanitation Services, a company fined for hiring minors to clean meat plants.
According to Reuters, JBS USA made the announcement on Monday that they’d be bringing more in-house cleaners to some of their facilities as well as hiring other companies.
The company’s spokeswoman made a statement saying that JBS does not tolerate child labor and if shifting away from PSSI at every location where alleged violations occurred.
According to Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) data, PSSI will eliminate 113 positions at a beef facility in Cactus on May 30.
Investigations began on Aug. 24, 2022 after the Department of Labor received information alleging that PSSI assigned minors to work in hazardous conditions.
The investigation spurred an order on Nov. 10 by U.S. District Court Judge John M. Gerrard that temporarily restrained the company and its employees from violating the child labor provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act, identified by the U.S. Department of Labor.
Back in Feb., PSSI was fined $1.5 million as a result of over 100 underage workers discovered working in dangerous conditions at meat plants in eight different states.
In response, last month, the Biden-Harris Administration sent a letter to the meat and poultry industry urging them to examine their supply chains for child labor infractions. In the letter, USDA’s Secretary Vilsack asked meat and poultry companies to take precautionary steps and to include “strong” language in contracts prohibiting child labor.
The letter was sent to 18 companies including Tyson Foods, Smithfield Foods, JBS USA, and Perdue Farms. In total, these companies account for an estimated 70 percent of meat and poultry production by volume in the United States.
»Related: Labor shortages continue to negatively affect agriculture
