With so much focus on the health and environmental impacts of food, it is possible to almost forget that people work incredibly hard in often dangerous jobs at every stage in the growing, processing and packaging of our food. Unfortunately, the food industry has a checkered history in its treatment of these workers.  

A recent report by the International Labor Rights Fund named three leading food companies on their list of the Five Worst Companies for the Right to Associate. It may seem amazing that food companies would occupy three of the five slots on this ignoble list. But agriculture and food processing companies have recently been implicated in a long list of anti-union activities. Major food producers such as Nestle, Dole and Coke have been embroiled in serious union controversies involving claims of worker harassment, dismissals and physical attacks.  

The agriculture industry in the US is notorious for its lack of union rights for workers. Some of the longest and most painful worker organizing campaigns in U.S.  history (such as the famous United Farm Workers grape boycott), have occurred in the food industry. In spite of such organizing, the industry continues to have one of the lowest rates of unionization in the US.

Even worse is the use of child labor and forced labor in food production around the world. Globally, the majority of working children are employed as agricultural workers. Despite some international campaign victories, child labor abuses continue in sectors such as cocoa production for chocolate consumption. And forced labor isn’t just a problem abroad. Farm workers in Florida have won multiple legal battles against coerced labor and enslavement.   

Worker health and safety issues are severe problems in the food and agriculture sectors. The National Safety Council lists agriculture as one of the most hazardous occupations in the U.S., with 700 deaths and 120,000 disabling injuries a year. Pesticide exposure leading to illness and even death is a primary occupational hazard for farm workers. And worker safety risks in meat slaughtering and packing plants remain a major cause of concern for worker advocates.

With all of these issues, a number of efforts have emerged to improve labor conditions within food supply chains. The Fair Trade movement seeks to certify farms and products that pay a fair wage, allow workers to organize, and support small independent farms. Fair Trade certified coffee, chocolate, and bananas are growing rapidly in the US.