Child labor scandal leads to loss of contracts for meat plant cleaning company.
Packers Sanitation Services Inc. (PSSI), the slaughterhouse cleaning company that was found to be employing more than 100 children to help sanitize dangerous razor-sharp equipment like bone saws, has continued to lose contracts with major meat producers since the investigation became public last fall. PSSI said it has taken a number of steps to tighten up its hiring practices, but the rising number of child labor cases nationwide is likely related to the increase in the number of minors crossing the U.S. border alone in recent years. Companies like PSSI are put in a difficult situation of having to turn away applicants who appear to have a valid ID when they want to hire workers, and they also have to be careful not to discriminate by imposing extra scrutiny on immigrants.
