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Class Action Claims Chicken Farmers Are Misclassified as Contractors
Excerpt from the American Prospect
Michael and Jean-Nichole Diaz wanted a farm business to pass down to their four sons. They ended up losing their life savings to get out of a dead-end chicken-growing contract. Now they’re hoping other contract poultry farmers will join their class action lawsuit, filed Monday, against one of the poultry corporations they worked with, Amick Farms.
Mr. and Mrs. Diaz allege that they were promised independence, but practically and legally were underpaid, unprotected chicken company employees, with little control over their operations and $1.5 million in debt on the line.
“It wasn’t very long before we realized that this is not a business model that’s going to be proven by the fruit of our efforts,” says Michael Diaz. “It took our whole savings, and it took every dollar and cent that we brought in outside … [Amick Farms] had this day-to-day control over our farm, there was nothing that we could do to do anything different.”
By arguing that contract poultry growers are illegally misclassified as independent contractors, the case highlights the ways corporations increasingly seek “control without responsibility” in the food industry and beyond. Corporations from Tyson to Amazon to port trucking firms have exploited changes in antitrust laws to push the riskier or labor-intensive parts of their supply chain onto “puppet entrepreneurs,” who take on all the risks of being a small business without meaningful independence.
What We're Reading
A 1st Circuit court sided with Puerto Rican jockeys that organized a strike for better pay in 2016, finding their collective action as independent contractors did not violate antitrust laws. The decision could help expand antitrust's exemption and has positive implications for gig workers looking to organize. (Bloomberg Law)
A records review by the Socially Responsible Agriculture Project found that, in Missouri alone, Smithfield's hog farms spilled more than 300,000 gallons of waste annually over the past 15 years. (SRAP)
The trial over the Justice Department's attempt to block U.S. Sugar's acquisition of Imperial Sugar began Monday. Were the deal to go through, two corporations would control nearly 75% of all sugar sales in the southeastern U.S. (AgWeek / Politico Pro)
About the Open Markets Institute
The Open Markets Institute promotes political, industrial, economic, and environmental resilience. We do so by documenting and clarifying the dangers of extreme consolidation, and by fostering discussions of ways to reestablish America’s political economy on a more stable and fair foundation.
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