Difference between revisions of "Slaughterhouse Workers"
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This in particular should be of interest to people who champion the rights of workers. Even if we grant the dubious notion that regardless of industry, a worker is exploited by their superiors and is therefore harmed (which is an empirical claim that lacks evidence) and therefore imply that working in either the meat industry or the alt-protein industry is harming the workers either way, it would be myopic to conclude that these harms are both equal in their intensity. The worst that someone in alt-protein processing may experience is the tedium and monotony of typical factory work (which is present in many industries). The worst that a slaugtherhouse worker can face are mental health issues, increased risk of injury, and becoming desensitized to violence. | This in particular should be of interest to people who champion the rights of workers. Even if we grant the dubious notion that regardless of industry, a worker is exploited by their superiors and is therefore harmed (which is an empirical claim that lacks evidence) and therefore imply that working in either the meat industry or the alt-protein industry is harming the workers either way, it would be myopic to conclude that these harms are both equal in their intensity. The worst that someone in alt-protein processing may experience is the tedium and monotony of typical factory work (which is present in many industries). The worst that a slaugtherhouse worker can face are mental health issues, increased risk of injury, and becoming desensitized to violence. | ||
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| + | And on top of how awful these jobs are, the workers get horrible reimbursements for the work they do because again, it's a low skilled job, and the slaughterhouses can get away with paying people less who don't have a choice. In the United States, the mean salary for a slaughterhouse worker is about $38,160, and about $47,120 on the high end.<ref>https://www.bls.gov/oes/2023/may/oes513023.htm</ref> For context, the median salary in the United States is about $45,140.<ref>https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEPAINUSA672N</ref> So not only do slaughterhouse workers make less than average, the high end barely makes more than that. | ||
==Comparisons to Sweatshop Jobs== | ==Comparisons to Sweatshop Jobs== | ||
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=References= | =References= | ||
Revision as of 18:00, 20 January 2026
Upon discussing the ethical implications of animal agriculture, common questions arise when it comes to the slaughtherhouse workers and others who work with animal products (such as meat-renderers), and the ethical implications in regards to them. Firstly, there are talks as to how much moral blame falls onto the workers, since they are the ones who are choosing to work such jobs. The other concern comes in the form of adding an extra layer of immorality when we consider how buying animal products in lieu of vegan products effectively forces the workers to endure terrible conditions at these jobs instad of something less horrible.
This article will go over both of these concerns, as well as others.
Contents
Do Slaughterhouse Workers Deserve Blame?
It seems intuitive that the people working in the slaughterhouses shoulder some of the blame and cruelty that happens to the animals. But ultimately, they have little if any moral responsibility for what goes on.
Most slaughterhouse workers are not sadists who want to work there because they enjoy suffering, they work there often because they don't have any other choice. In the United States, roughly half of slaughterhouse workers are migrant workers from Latin America, often without practical skills, education, or fluency in English. And they also often have families to feed and provide for. On the outside, it's easy to look at this and be appalled and just think they should find other avenues of work, but without really understanding their situation, it is not very fair to pass judgement onto them.
This doesn't necessarily apply to just those who don't have a choice, it applies generally to the vast majority who work there when it comes to moral responsibility. Even if a person does have a choice on where to work, the slaughtering of the animals is only being done in the name of consumer demand, not for the personal pleasure of the workers. An argument can be made that, if the slaughterhouse worker chose not to work there, that would be a huge hit to animal agriculture. The issue with that comes in the form of, if one person doesn't do it, someone else will. And given how this is a low-skilled job that pretty much any able-bodied person can do, if one person doesn't work the job, chances are someone else will just come in and take it. Slaughterhouses unsurprisingly have labor shortages and massively high turnover rates (people leaving after a relatively short amount of time), so whenever a person leaves another person comes in, sees how terrible it is, leaves, then the cycle repeats. This in particular is why slaughterhouses target people like migrant workers who have no other choice, since they will more reliably stay, and rely on people continuing to eat meat.
Arguably, it's better for a person who isn't willing to work there but does so out of necessity to take the job over someone willing, since the latter is more likely to be a sadistic or mentally unstable person who wants an avenue for unleashing their cruel urges and tendencies.
Does this mean the slaughterhouse worker has absolutely no blame? Unlikely. The slaughterhouse worker, even if it is extremely likely to be replaced by someone else, does bear a very, very small amount of responsibility, since there is a non-zero chance that exists that the job would otherwise remain vacant. But ultimately, the vast majority of the blame when it comes to animal suffering on farms ultimately come down to the consumer. If it weren't for the consumers continually buying and demanding these products, they wouldn't have to take these jobs, and would instead take something else related to food, as meat will be replaced by plant-based options. The relationship between the two should be viewed as, the less of a choice the person taking the job is, and higher the chance of someone else taking the job anyway, corresponds to increasing responsibility on the part of the person buying the products.
Some may employ a reverse-Nuremburg Defense and argue something along the lines of, the workers are the ones who should shoulder the blame, since they're the ones doing the killing and the people buying the products are just giving them the orders. A less egregious form of this, common amongst anti-capitalists, is that the corporations who own the slaughterhouses and operations shelter most if not all the blame. While there is an argument to be made that animal agricutlure corporations do shoulder a fair amount of responsibility with their lobbying and pushing of advertisements, that doesn't negate any responsibility of the consumer, and does nothing to incriminate the individual workers.
Now, there are instances where a slaughterhouse worker deserves blame, such as being excessively cruel beyond what is required of them. It often happens because of the stress of working in such places, and they choose to take it out on the animals. Equally, there are instances where the workers could actually be given some moral credit, if they make an effort to minimize the suffering to the animals in any way they can.
Welfare of Slaughterhouse Workers
Working in a slaughterhouse as one can imagine, is not a very pleasant experience, and workers frequently leave these jobs with PTSD and other forms of trauma.
As discussed earlier, these people often take such horrible jobs as a necessity to feed their families, and these jobs exist because people are creating demand for them. If people stopped patronizing the animal agriculture industry, they'd still be buying food. Instead of beef burgers, people will eat veggie burgers, creating jobs for these people in a Veggie burger factory. As a bonus, they won't be traumatized and morally desensitized.
Since we have a choice as to buying vegan products or animal products and the resulting job creation because of it, it is unethical to force a person to have to take a horrible job due to how we spend our money. This can be viewed as a sort of bonus harm on top of all the other harms caused by the purchase of animal products when we consider the opportunity cost. Just as a veggie burger emits significantly less greenhouse gas than a beef burger, a slaughterhouse job is significantly more psychologically taxing than a vegan food plant. When one chooses to buy animal products over vegan products, that effectively says that he or she is fine with creating this psychological damage.
The psychological effects shouldn't be too surprising. Slaughterhouse workers tend to have higher rates of depression, anxiety, and other distress.[1] There is also higher risk of physical injuries compared to other physical labor jobs. In the United States, there is an average of two amputations per week for slaughterhouse workers.[2]
This in particular should be of interest to people who champion the rights of workers. Even if we grant the dubious notion that regardless of industry, a worker is exploited by their superiors and is therefore harmed (which is an empirical claim that lacks evidence) and therefore imply that working in either the meat industry or the alt-protein industry is harming the workers either way, it would be myopic to conclude that these harms are both equal in their intensity. The worst that someone in alt-protein processing may experience is the tedium and monotony of typical factory work (which is present in many industries). The worst that a slaugtherhouse worker can face are mental health issues, increased risk of injury, and becoming desensitized to violence.
And on top of how awful these jobs are, the workers get horrible reimbursements for the work they do because again, it's a low skilled job, and the slaughterhouses can get away with paying people less who don't have a choice. In the United States, the mean salary for a slaughterhouse worker is about $38,160, and about $47,120 on the high end.[3] For context, the median salary in the United States is about $45,140.[4] So not only do slaughterhouse workers make less than average, the high end barely makes more than that.
