The long hours and tough
work in Chicago packinghouses led to exhausted workers, who would often end up
cutting themselves. Those injuries very easily became infected, as meat-packing
facilities were filthy. One of the most common infections was blood poisoning.
Exhaustion was not the only reason that packinghouse workers got injured. Meat-packing facility owners would hire “pacers,” somebody who worked at a very fast pace that everybody else had to match. Pacers were paid more than the other employees, as they kept the factories running, and kept the other workers from slowing down. Working at a speed they were not comfortable with led either to cuts (which often became infected), injuries from carrying heavy supplies, or being fired for trying to slow down. Workers were not compensated for their injuries, because meat-packing companies did not take responsibility for their employees’ health. Workers could not take time off to recover from an injury either, as they would be fired, and somebody would be hired off the street to replace them. |
"All kinds of diseases threatened packinghouse workers. Skin infections were a constant threat, and dermatoconiesis ("pickled hands") and tubular wart ("cut worm") affected many laborers. . . Simply wearing gloves might have prevented many of these infections." |