A Just Transition for Meat Industry Workers

Farming animals for food is detrimental to animals, the environment and human health. In addition, the slaughterhouse industry causes immense harm to its workers and surrounding communities. It institutionalises and normalises violence. The many problems in this industry are systemic and beyond reform.

Key Objectives

Close down the slaughterhouse industry.
Support slaughterhouse workers to transition to kind, safe and meaningful employment.

Interim measures until slaughterhouses are closed down:

Increased data collection on workplace conditions and accidents, diseases, and mental health concerns faced by slaughterhouse workers.
Establish government inquiries into the connection between slaughterhouse work and crime, including family and social violence.
Ensure all relevant occupational health and safety regulations and labour laws are fully implemented and that these reflect the dangerous nature of the work.
Increase ready and free access to mental health support services for slaughterhouse workers (see our Mental Health Policy).
Require employers to have adequate compensation schemes which recognise the unique physical and psychological risks faced by slaughterhouse workers.
Introduce CCTV cameras in slaughterhouses for the protection of workers and to identify and prevent animal cruelty (see our Animal Agriculture Policy). Penalties for cruelty offences should include the possibility of the forced closure of the operation.
Educate the public about the detrimental impact of the slaughterhouse industry on workers and surrounding communities.

Background

A Just Transition

A just transition ensures that workers are supported when an industry shifts towards sustainable practices. For example, as the energy sector moves from wood and coal to clean energy, stakeholders need to actively plan to support workers through retraining programs, financial aid and new job opportunities. This creates social licence for change. As the global demand for meat poses significant environmental, public health, and ethical issues, transitioning to sustainable practices is essential. A just transition would support workers and communities by providing them with new employment opportunities, retraining, and social protections to ensure they are not left behind in the shift towards a plant-based food system.

Occupational Hazards and Injuries

Slaughterhouses are hazardous workplaces that put the physical and mental health of workers at risk. With violent and physically demanding work carried out at high speed, animal slaughter and meat processing is a dangerous occupation owing to the handling of sharp instruments and terrified animals. Occupational hazards also include noise, exposure to cold, repetitive work, forceful exertion, awkward work postures, fast work pace, hazardous chemicals such as cleaning and disinfecting products, bacteria, fungi, endotoxins (toxic substances that can lead to inflammation, fever and anaphylactic shock) and parasites (such as worms, ticks and lice). Mental health risks are also an occupational hazard and are addressed below.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) provides data on work-related injuries, but data from the slaughterhouse and meat processing industry is aggregated (combined) with data from other industries. Disaggregated ABS data is not publicly available. However, some data obtained via a Freedom of Information request on workers’ compensation claims has been published elsewhere. Data from other countries with similar conditions can shed light on the hazardous conditions in this industry and the consequences for its workers.

The graphic below shows common jobs in meat and poultry plants in the US.

common jobs

Apart from musculoskeletal (involving the muscles and the bones) disorders, slaughterhouse workers are also at higher risk for various bacterial and viral infections compared to the general population, such as hepatitis. Further, slaughterhouses introduce workers to antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Official estimates may underestimate the actual extent of injuries. For example, a US study found the self-reported incidence rate of severe injury was more than twice official industry estimates. Animal agriculture is dominated by large corporations using similar equipment and methods in many countries, so international studies like this are relevant here. A recent systematic review offers further detailed insights into the physical and psychological harms sustained by slaughterhouse workers internationally, and here in Australia.

The nature and location of injuries potentially sustained by meat and poultry workers is shown below/

Common injuries

Mental Health

Slaughterhouse work has been linked to a range of mental health concerns.

A growing body of evidence shows that slaughterhouse workers exhibit symptoms of perpetration-induced traumatic stress (PITS), a form of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) where the person is involved (or believes they are involved) in creating the traumatic situation. Symptoms include higher levels of aggression, nightmares, substance abuse, depression, anxiety, anger and hostility.

A stressful and unsafe workplace alone is likely to have a negative impact on workers’ mental health. For slaughterhouse workers, the violent nature of the work adds to these harmful conditions. It causes acute distress and trauma and can have a long term effect on mental health.

These linkages make it unsurprising that there is a connection between slaughterhouses and increased violent crimes in surrounding communities. For example, an analysis of crime data from 581 counties in the US found that ‘slaughterhouse employment increases total arrest rates, arrests for violent crimes, arrests for rape, and arrests for other sex offenses in comparison with other industries’. Another study analysed statistics from 248 US rural communities with high concentration of slaughterhouse facilities and employment in this industry. The results were similar: ‘the violent work of slaughterhouses and the mere presence of a slaughterhouse in a county had significant effects on total arrests, arrests for rape, and arrests for offenses against the family’. More studies are needed to investigate the impact of slaughterhouses on the community in Australia.

A former slaughterhouse worker described her experience and the effect it had on her mental health in the following way:

I realised there was no point pretending that it was just another job. I'm sure not all abattoirs are the same but mine was a brutal, dangerous place to work. There were countless occasions when, despite following all of the procedures for stunning, slaughterers would get kicked by a massive, spasming cow as they hoisted it up to the machine for slaughter. Similarly, cows being brought in would get scared and panic, which was pretty terrifying for all of us too. You'll know if you've ever stood next to one that they are huge animals.

Personally, I didn't suffer physical injuries, but the place affected my mind. As I spent day after day in that large, windowless box, my chest felt increasingly heavy and a grey fog descended over me. At night, my mind would taunt me with nightmares, replaying some of the horrors I'd witnessed throughout the day.

Research shows that psychological distress and PITS symptoms have also been observed in other occupations that involve killing animals.

Precarious Work

In Australia, immigrants and temporary migrant workers are overrepresented among slaughterhouse workers. Recruitment agencies promise workers from poorer countries a chance to establish a life and obtain residency in Australia. The high fees these workers pay to recruitment agents make it a lucrative business for the labour hire industry that leaves workers vulnerable to exploitation.

Slaughterhouse work is insecure work. Non-compliance with labour laws in this industry is structural, ‘caused by the precarious status of skilled visa workers: they have a limited right of residence, they’re excluded from the social safety net, and they must depend on an employer for permission to stay here, both in the short and long term.’

Unhealthy work conditions and the precarious nature of slaughterhouse work came to the public’s attention as these workplaces became Covid-19 hotspots during 2020 and 2021. Several factors contributed to these outbreaks:

… a youthful workforce more likely to have asymptomatic infections; insecure poorly paid employment that discourages workers from disclosing symptoms for fear of penalty; long hours and coercive contracts; a reliance on migrant workers housed in inadequate overcrowded accommodation and transported on overcrowded buses; and limited or non-existent hygiene measures.

The number of animals killed for food is enormous. Estimates put the number of land and sea animals killed annually to support Australia's food supply at 4.9 billion. For example, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) reports that 182.6 million chickens were slaughtered during the December 2023 quarter. However, in this gigantic industry ‘killing animals has become a massive, routinized, efficient process that functions largely behind the scenes of modern society.’

Due to the inherent cruelty and many harms caused by the slaughterhouse industry, we recommend closing it down and supporting workers to transition to kinder, safer and meaningful employment.