Tyson and the Beauty of Vertical Integration

Tyson employess 114,000 around the world

Tyson has more than 300 facilities and offices world wide

There are 65 poultry processing plants in Arkansas

Tyson also controls close to half of the chicken production in Mexico

Arkansas is the number two chicken producing state in the nation

Arkansas is third in turkey production
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Live kill is when fully conscious birds are hung by their feet from metal shackles on a moving rail

Live hang workers are doing one of the most dangerous jobs on the factory floor

This step in the process is performed in near-total darkness in order to quiet the birds

About 200 chickens per minute are moving into the live hang room

As workers finally hoist the birds onto the hooks the chickens urinate and defecate onto the workers below

Live kill workers experience large-scale violence that has been proven to lead to serious psychological trauma for the worker

The large scale violence of slaughtering also affects the collective consciousness of communities located around processing plants.

Communities surrounding slaughterhouses consistently have higher rates of violent crime than other demographically similar counties.

Six of the top twenty manufacturing employers in the northwest region of Arkansas are poultry plants

Within a 30 mile radius of the Workers’ Center in Springdale, Arkansas there are 10 poultry processing and hatchery plants
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Poultry workers hourly earnings remain the lowest in the entire food industry

One in twelve Arkansans earns a living in the poultry industry

Arkansas has 1 in 4 children living in poverty

Arkansas women earn on average $19,100.00 per year

This is the lowest median earning for women in the nation

Women in Arkansas receive wages that are twenty-five percent below their male counterparts earnings

Nationally immigrant populations in poverty are at the seventeenth percentile

In Arkansas 26% of immigrants live below the poverty line

Advocates for women who have experienced violence in the home connect domestic violence and poverty issues

With the inequality in women’s earnings, and its connection to violence, it is therefore not surprising that the state of Arkansas is number three in the nation in murder by men of women
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The U.S. government provides Tyson and its three closest competitors with feedstock subsidies that total 1.25 billion dollars a year.

In Arkansas processing plants are no longer required to pay state sales tax for the “cost of materials used in the manufacturing, processing or production of poultry product."

In 2009 Arkansas will cut 107 million dollars from the budget for state services which include Medicaid and funding for colleges.

Arkansas public libraries are required to pay sales tax on books
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Tyson's market research showed that consumers wanted to buy products from a company with christian values

Tyson has 128 chaplains in their plants

Tyson published a prayer book for workers and consumers

The Tyson family built a subdivision and golf course and named it The Blessings.