Company accused of exploiting workers with disabilities
February 9th, 2009Workers evacuated from Iowa ‘bunkhouse’ with boarded-up windows; Federal, state agencies investigating
Copyrighted story by Clark Kauffman in the Des Moines Register:
Federal, state and county authorities have launched a major investigation of the care and treatment of a group of men working for an Iowa meat-processing plant, and ordered an emergency evacuation of their living quarters. All 21 men have intellectual disabilities; most are in their 50s and 60s.
Henry’s Turkey Service, a Texas-based company, has shipped men with developmental disabilities from Texas to work at the Iowa plant for over 30 years. The men who were evacuated had worked for at least 20 years at the facility, and had been living in a boarded-up building owned by the city of Atalissa. An Iowa inspections administrator described conditions there as “deplorable.”
Among the issues under investigation: dangerous living conditions with fire safety hazards, potential financial exploitation of workers, possible labor violations for fair wages, potential civil rights violations, and possible conflict of interest since Henry’s Turkey Service acted as employer, landlord and caregiver.
“My God, this is an embarrassment to the state of Iowa,” said Sylvia Piper of Iowa Protection and Advocacy, a federally funded group that oversees services for the disabled. “This should not be happening in our state.”
Additional stories in the Des Moines Register:
- Potential issues in Henry’s Turkey case
- Families also have questions for Henry’s
- Atalissa men doing well; heating concerns led to evacuation
- Group homes operate outside law, critics say
The Atalissa “bunkhouse” that for decades was home to dozens of mentally retarded men is one of Iowa’s unregulated group homes.
There are dozens, probably hundreds of such homes in Iowa. The precise number is uncertain. Because they are not licensed or inspected, no one knows how many there are or where they are located.
Associated Press coverage:
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February 17th, 2010 at 10:55 am
I think it’s the only issue that impacts most of us the very same way. We felt that same hurt when Colbert called Palin what he did. We felt that same hurt when Pat told us the story about her daughter, Margaret.
Most disability issues are not a giant template we can put over any part of the population because it impacts us so differently. One family thinks that “group homes” are the way to go while a different family says “no way” because they are not federally regulated.
One family thinks the education mainstream is the way to go while another family considers it “warehousing”.
One family is in support of candidates who promote “small government” and another family needs “more government” for assistance.
Educating the public about using the “R” word was the only thing that didn’t require legislature or lobbying. All it required was showing respect.
February 17th, 2010 at 9:00 am
I understand the implications of the r-word debate and the civil rights undercurrent that seethes below the surface, and I think that the conversations about respectful language are truly important.
However, what I find troubling is that the big issues Pat has covered in the past like Kauffman’s story about employment abuses in Iowa and other stories about institutional abuse in Texas don’t generate comments on this website or elicit more moral outrage from our community. Pat provides us with all the credible stories she finds, but this community controls the response.
So, here are my questions for the community: Do we truly think the r-word debate is more important than these other stories, or do we think it’s more of a fight we can win? Is it possible we think the r-word fight is the first step toward addressing these other issues? Is it that we think these other issues are just too hard to tackle, or do we think they don’t apply to us? Does the r-word debate perhaps feel more personal to us, and, if so, why? I really want to know.