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Sunday, December 28, 2008
The NC King of Special Interests
In an investigative series this year, the Charlotte Observer established this baseline fact about our state's poultry industry: "Weak enforcement, minimal fines and dwindling inspections have allowed poultry companies to operate largely unchecked, records show."The toleration of a major industrial scofflaw in NC owes much to Republican Labor Secretary Cherie Berry (natch) but also to the man pictured here, Democratic state Senator Charles Albertson, who represents Duplin, Lenoir, and Sampson counties, which are knee-deep in the eviscera of meat-packing, both hog and chicken.
Last May Gov. Easley, convinced that the state's Labor Department was not enforcing safety laws, asked the General Assembly to approve money for more inspectors. Sen. Albertson blocked that initiative, according to an article in the Observer today.
Since 2002, [Albertson] has received more than $25,000 in campaign contributions from N.C. poultry executives and from the political action committee that represents them. He got $3,750 of that money Feb. 26, about two weeks after the first Observer stories were published.
More than $6,000 came from the N.C. Poultry Federation, the industry's state PAC. That's more than the group gave to any other lawmaker. Much of Albertson's remaining poultry money came from executives with N.C.-based Prestage Farms and House of Raeford Farms.
Not one to be easily embarrassed, evidently, Albertson even told the Observer, "I've been a little disappointed at times they haven't given me more."
There's a public servant to be proud of!
He's blind to more than just these appearances of pay-to-play. He says he hasn't heard any complaints about the poultry industry from his constituents. Doesn't hear, doesn't see, doesn't do.
Labels: Charles Albertson, Cherie Berry, chicken industry
Monday, July 28, 2008
Give 'The Elevator Lady' the Shaft!
Besides getting to put her name inside every elevator in the state, Berry oversees many worker-safety issues. One of her major responsibilities ... worker safety in chicken processing plants, of which N.C. has many, where working conditions have been notoriously rotten.
A Charlotte Observer investigative series of articles exposing unsafe working conditions in the poultry industry prompted the state legislature to give additional money to Berry's department to hire four new poultry plant inspectors. On July 18 Berry announced that she would accept the four new positions but not use them for the purpose lawmakers intended. A cheeky response to the NC General Assembly, no doubt, and its message was clear: the chummy relationship between Berry and the chicken-plucking industry is gonna remain chummy.
Which sorta pissed off the editorial board at the Charlotte Observer:
"We're going to continue doing business the way I imagine we've always done it," said Delores Quesenberry, spokeswoman for Ms. Berry. "We've been doing a good job with that [poultry plant inspections] all along. And we're going to continue that."
A good job? What has Ms. Quesenberry been smoking? ...
...lax regulations and weak oversight have made it easy for a dangerous industry to exploit illegal workers, underreport injuries and get around a regulatory system that lets companies police themselves....
...Yet when confronted with that evidence, here's what Ms. Berry said: "We're going to keep doing what we're doing because it's working," she said. That's not the voice of someone who's intent on looking out for the state's workers....
...Rules and policies at the state labor department have tilted toward business instead of worker safety. Inspections and fines at poultry plants are at record lows....
Fortunately for voters this is an election year....
The Observer editorial then endorsed Democratic Labor Commissioner candidate Mary Fant Donnan.
Labels: Cherie Berry, chicken industry, Mary Fant Donnan, North Carolina Department of Labor
