FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 17, 2025

Contact: Chelsea Connor | cconnor@rwdsu.org | 347-866-6259

STATEMENT: USDA LINE SPEEDS WAIVERS WILL HARM WORKERS

(WASHINGTON, DC) – Today, the USDA announced new waivers to increase line speeds in poultry and pork plants. Stuart Appelbaum, President of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), which represents over 15,000 poultry workers at facilities across the southern United States, as well as meatpacking and processing workers in other parts of the country issued the following statement:

“Increased line speeds will hurt workers – it’s not a maybe, it’s a definite – and increased production speeds will jeopardize the health and safety of every American that eats chicken. Today’s announcement by the USDA and Secretary Rollins echoes the same lack of consideration they had for our essential food processing workers during the first Trump administration and it will put us all at risk. We rely on the thousands of workers to safely produce the food on our tables every single day, they can’t do that safely at these speeds – we learned that lesson the hard way just five short years ago – let’s not irreparably injur workers to learn what we already know. 

“Worker safety must be a priority, and these facilities cannot operate at these speeds without increased staffing, which cannot happen the way they are constructed now. Issuing waivers to a multi-billion dollar industry with no oversight to ensure it’s done safely and properly is a recipe for disaster. 

“The USDA must make worker safety a priority, not profits.”

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The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) represents 100,000 members throughout the United States. The RWDSU is affiliated with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW). For more information, please visit our website at www.rwdsu.org, Facebook:/RWDSU.UFCW Twitter:@RWDSU.