One-stop shops like Wal-Mart and Target might seem like the best options for college students strapped for cash-but for employees, the low prices offered by such stores might come at a high cost.
Speakers from the Wal-Mart Food and Agricultural Workers Tour talked to students Monday night about the poor working conditions of farms and plants that make products for the superstore.
Several students said the presentation helped them appreciate the work that goes into the products they use every day.
"It was like, 'I was there, this is what happened and I am a fellow human being,'" senior Katherine Wingate said.
Lorena Ramos-one of three featured speakers-described her experiences working at the Smithfield Packing Company in Tar Heel, N.C.
Ramos said Smithfield slaughtered about 24,000 pigs each day when she started working there, but the company was eventually killing around 32,000 pigs each day with the same sized staff.
"It is too much work for the same amount of people," she said in Spanish, with the aid of a translator. "We had to work more quickly. We were cutting each other, our hands and legs. One woman almost lost her eye."
Injured workers were immediately sent back to their posts, and those who refused to work were fired, Ramos added.
Billy Harpe, who worked at Tyson Foods in Georgia for 15 years, said the biggest problem for workers there is that medical doctors are controlled by companies.
"They try to minimize treatment and put you back as fast as they can so they don't cost the company any money," Harpe said.
Harpe added that when he filed grievances against Tyson, his doctor made him return to normal work even though he was injured. As a result, Harpe said he developed carpal tunnel syndrome.
Although many employees were hurt on the job, the speakers said their companies discouraged workers from complaining.
Paula Placencia said the salad plantation she worked for used "incentives" to set employees against each other.
"Every month, there was a raffle for one item, and a group could win the item if they didn't report any injuries," Placencia said in Spanish, with the aid of a translator.
She added that when one woman hurt her finger in a carrot-cutting machine, the woman was too afraid to ask for medical help. "Her finger was almost completely detached, and she said, 'Oh no, our team is going to lose the prize,'" Placencia said.
Trina Tocco, campaign coordinator of the International Labor Rights Fund, emphasized that although the tour focused on Wal-Mart, the superstore was not the only perpetuator of poor working conditions.
"We talk about Wal-Mart, because it is a really good poster child," Tocco said. "But don't think for a second that others aren't trying to aspire to Wal-Mart's level."
Senior Kyrsten Skogstad, a member of Duke Students Against Sweatshops, which co-sponsored the event, said she thought the presentation was a success.
"I didn't recognize a lot of the faces, which is good," Skogstad said. "There's always a fear that you'll be preaching to the choir."
Tocco said students often feel detached from labor issues.
"We talk about globalization, some sort of vague notion, in the classroom," she said. "But we forget that we're part of this process just because we buy stuff."
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