Fast Food NationJoin now to read essay Fast Food NationFast Food Nation Essay“A nation’s diet can be more revealing than its art or literature.” (p.3) Eric Schlossers book Fast Food Nation is not only an expose of the fast food industry but also shows how the fast food industry has shaped and defined society in America and other nations as the fast food culture spreads globally. He connects the social order of society to the kind of food it eats and the way it eats that food, and relates fast food to other social processes and institutions. His facts are based on years of research and study, and are presented in and easy to follow narrative. Schlosser is so thorough and convincing in his argument, it’s impossible to read this book and not feel disenchanted by the unethical practices of fast food companies, shocked at its effect on our society, and empowered to do something about it. Fast Food Nation takes a look at what we don’t see behind the fast food business, and questions a high cultural cost verses a low dollar value meal.
There are ethical concerns in about every business, but none seem to be as intense as the ones found in the meatpacking and fast food industry. “In the days when labor unions were strong workers could complain about excessive line speeds and injury rates without fear of getting fired. Today only one third of IBP’s workers belong to a union.” (p.174) Schlosser clearly describes the plight of these employees, pointing out that the majority of them are undocumented immigrants. They are employed “at will” meaning they can be fired at any time, for any reason. They depend on these jobs to support their families. A clear example of this can be seen here in Iowa. Small towns such as Perry are seeing a tremendous amount of undocumented immigrants, lured by the processing plants in the town. The needs of this industry shape a number of social institutions and also have a direct effect on local communities by bringing in people who require more social services than
In Iowa, the labor movement is working to protect the undocumented by moving to protect workers. Some IBP workers have tried to bring in immigrants, but are unable to work in those positions. This would cause the IBP to decline to work with those workers. In fact, the Labor Relations Board is considering the issue with an end to this. The current position of IBP workers with the Trump Administration looks like it could not be taken very seriously. The Obama Administration in fact increased enforcement against the undocumented workers in Obama’s failed policies. But even that move led to an enormous level of federal enforcement that ultimately led to the death of over 11 million undocumented workers. The Obama Administration brought in less than 2.6 million undocumented workers between 2009 and 2016, with more of those that had been deported. In some cases, this was accompanied by criminal convictions, including the death of one IBP immigrant in one of Texas’ major counties.
I think it is important for employers to focus on creating strong, fair wages for the workers and to ensure fair health care for the workers, but there are many other ways that employers could do that. While we are focused on jobs that are at a premium in the United States, there are very likely significant additional jobs that are at higher premiums—some of our jobs are actually in labor, some are in agriculture. And it is good that they put in, we’re looking to them the opportunity to produce and grow that kind of quality of living here in the United States. However, the only clear path to this is through regulation of companies that are in that industry.
A great deal of our concern from the right is that we can’t compete with these employers because they are at a premium. There is also concern about an even greater premium in their share in this market because they are now in an even greater position to take advantage of what these jobs provide. We are concerned about this as well because there is a very high correlation between the number of jobs that companies are currently hiring and the level of performance of worker quality in their own industries. It would be very unfortunate for companies or other sectors that depend upon these industries—for example, we have seen more or less the same share of lower-quality workers coming in from the agricultural sector, because that’s where the majority of the companies that employ them get those top jobs. This would also have an enormously positive effect on those workers that are now leaving on the way to become IBP workers and those that are already in these industries.
This is really a question of creating jobs for people. People can have jobs. All of this discussion of IBP is based on misinformation. I believe that many people get this message from this misinformation: “This kind of thing is totally out of touch with the experience,” “We can work with foreign countries today,” “These jobs are not being created in the United States,” and not “You got that much immigration on your plate and now you’re going to take a hit.” It is just this kind of thing that people are afraid of because they think their future is in jeopardy. To many different aspects of the IBP community I encourage you to explore alternatives but it is a fact that we are also at a higher risk of what I call “illegal re-employment.” We should look in the context of what is happening on college campuses right now, particularly for college students coming out of high poverty, and also what is happening under the Trump administration that may lead to higher debt, higher costs in the credit market, a host of other issues but not my case.
What have you learned from this?
The reality on the ground is that we are seeing more IBP workers leave the workforce altogether because these are jobs that are at a premium in the United States. These are