Undercover in a Chicken Factory

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Such sites will not automatically unite this diverse working class any more than factories did in 19th-century England. But if we really want to understand the global migrations that are reshaping today's world, we need to look at culture not just in terms of ethnic rituals and customs. We also have to confront the realities of class. The Mexicans, Salvadorans, Vietnamese, and Americans at the plant experience cultural differences every day when they exchange tortillas, tacos, rice, beans, and turkey sandwiches. But they also share -- in different ways -- the class experience of eating chicken that is as painful to swallow as it is to process.

Adapted from an article in Labor History (Vol. 43, No 3, 2002), a quarterly journal founded in 1960 by the Tamiment Institute, a foundation with origins in New York's garment workers' unions. Labor History has recently published essays on such topics as "the rebirth of the living wage movement" and "race relations in the early Teamster's Union." It was sold to the academic publishing group Taylor & Francis in 2003. Subscriptions: $63/yr. (4 issues) from Taylor & Francis Ltd, Rankine Road, Basingstoke, Hants, RG24 8PR, UK; www.tandf.co.uk/journals

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