Doing The Dirty Work

Business magazines and newspapers regularly publish articles about the changing nature of work in the United States and about how many jobs are being changed. Indeed, because so much has been made of the shift toward service-sector and professional jobs, many people assumed that the number of unpleasant an undesirable jobs has declined. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. Millions of Americans work in gleaming air-conditioned facilities, but many others work in dirty, grimy, and unsafe settings. For example, many jobs in the recycling industry require workers to sort through moving conveyors of trash, pulling out those items that can be recycled.
Other relatively unattractive jobs include cleaning hospital restrooms, washing dishes in a restaurant, and handling toxic waste. Consider the jobs in a chicken-processing facility. Much like a manufacturing assembly line, a chicken-processing facility is organised around a moving conveyor system. Workers call it the chain. In reality, it’s a steel cable with large clips that carries dead chickens down what might be called a “disassembly line.” Standing along this line are dozens of workers who do, in fact, take the birds apart as they pass.
Even the titles of the jobs are unsavory. Among the first set of jobs along the chain is the skinner. Skinners use sharp instruments to cut and pull the skin off the dead chicken. Towards the middle of the line are the gut pullers. These workers reach inside the chicken carcasses and remove the intestines and other organs. At the end of the line are the gizzard cutters, who tackle the more difficult organs attached to the inside of the chicken’s carcass. These organs have to be individually cut and removed for disposal. The work is obviously distasteful, and the pace of the work is unrelenting. On a good day the chain moves an average of ninety chickens a minute for nine hours. And the workers are essentially held captive by the moving chain.

For example, no one can vacate a post to use the bathroom or for other reasons without the permission of the supervisor. In some plants, taking an unauthorised bathroom break can result in suspension without pay. But the noise in a typical chicken-processing plant is so loud that the supervisor can’t hear someone calling for relief unless the person happens to be standing close by. Jobs such as these on the chicken-processing line are actually becoming increasingly common. Fuelled by Americans’ growing appetites for lean, easy-to-cook meat, the number of poultry workers has almost doubled since 1980, and today they constitute a work force of around a quarter of a million people. Indeed, the chicken-processing industry has become a major component of the state economies of Georgia, North Carolina, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Alabama.
Besides being unpleasant and dirty, many jobs in a chicken-processing plant are dangerous and unhealthy. Some workers, for example, have to fight the live birds when they are first hung on the chains. These workers are routinely scratched and pecked by the chickens. And the air inside a typical chicken-processing plant is difficult to breathe. Workers are usually supplied with paper masks, but most don’t use them because they are hot and confining. And the work space itself is so tight that the workers often cut themselves—and sometimes their coworkers—with the knives, scissors, and other instruments they use to perform their jobs. Indeed, poultry processing ranks third among industries in the United States for cumulative trauma injuries such as carpet tunnel syndrome. The inevitable chicken feathers, faeces, and blood also contribute to the hazardous and unpleasant work environment.
Question:
Q1 How relevant are the concept of competencies to the job in a chicken- processing plant ? Ans:- concept of competencies is basically The ability to perform some task; Meeting specified qualifications to perform; implicit knowledge of a language’s structure or the ability to do something well, measured against a standard, especially ability acquired through experience or training so competencies is the skills ,knowledge, ability to do the particular task. So in chickenprocessing plant anyone can’t work or will be not able to work because of environment of plantand also because of some jobs in plant are dangerous like they have to fight the live birds when they first hang on chain, and the air inside the plant is difficult to breathe. Usually workers are provided mask for but most don’t use it because it is hot and confining.
And work space at plant itself is so tight that the workers often cut themselves and sometimes their co-workers with many instruments they use to perform their job. And they have to captive with moving chain for example no one can vacate a post to use the bathroom or for other reason without the permission of the supervisor’s according to concept of competencies anyone will be not able to do these type of dirty jobs so these jobs require those people who can work efficiently and can stay at plant and who are non vegetarian
Q.2:- How might you try to improve the jobs in a chicken processing plant ? Ans:-we can improve the jobs in chicken processing plants by……1)hire or recruit those people who are non vegetarian so they will be more able to do and handle these type of work more efficiently2) we can provide them any machine that will cut the chicken automatically so that we can overcome the safety issues like cut and injury etc.
3)we can make the environment more friendly so that workers will enjoy the work4)we will arrange more space on assembly line or moving chain so that workers can easily handle the work safely and by this we can reduce the dangerous jobs5) will provide cool and eco friendly paper mask to the workers so that those workers who don’t like the air inside the plant can work easily6)those workers who don’t like to work on assembly line or don’t know the process we can shift them to another jobs7)if any workers want to go for bathroom they can go without the permission of super visior and while other workers will handle his job So by all above decision we can improve the jobs in a chicken processing unit because no. of poultry workers are increasing day by day in U.S. as well as in many countries like Georgia Alabama etc.
Q.3:-Are dirty, dangerous, and unpleasant jobs an inevitable part of any economy? Ans:- Yes, because chicken processing industry has became a major component of the many state economies like Georgia ,North Carolina, and Alabama etc and jobs such as these on the chicken processing are actually becoming increasingly common. And also because of growing appetites for lean, easy to cook meat.
And numbers of poultry workers has almost doubled since 1980 in U.S. because meat is cheaper there compare to veg food And also because some some unemployed workers in any economy doesn’t have skills to doany other work and for their basic needs they has to do these type of dirty and dangerous jobs Because they don’t have any other options. In India also no. of non vegetarian are increasing and a large no. of our population is non vegetarian and unemployment rate is also high so many people have to these type of dirty jobs.