{"id":368,"date":"2021-05-18T17:20:10","date_gmt":"2021-05-18T21:20:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/stormlake\/?p=368"},"modified":"2021-05-18T17:20:10","modified_gmt":"2021-05-18T21:20:10","slug":"hearing-from-the-other-side-reflections-and-ideas-from-two-tyson-representatives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/stormlake\/2021\/05\/hearing-from-the-other-side-reflections-and-ideas-from-two-tyson-representatives\/","title":{"rendered":"Hearing from the Other Side: Reflections and Ideas from Two Tyson Representatives"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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by Nathaniel Hieber<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Given how much our class has focused on Tyson Foods and the impact it has on Storm Lake, it seems fitting to have the last interview of the semester involve not one, but two current representatives from the company. Two weeks ago, we interviewed Gary Mickelson and Jeaneth Ibarra, both of whom have high positions working for Tyson. We all had many questions to ask them. Our interactions with these two not only helped to illuminate how Tyson approaches its environmental and social impacts, but also how much its views contrasted with the perspectives of other informants of ours this semester.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both interviewees gave summaries of who they were and what they did. Ibarra originally hails from Honduras, but came to the United States in 1997. She moved to Iowa to work for IBP in 2000, and then held several positions working for Tyson once the company took over in 2001. While at Tyson, she learned to speak English and began working as an interpreter, then as a benefits counselor. After leaving the community for a few years, Ibarra returned to Storm Lake in 2012 as a community liaison and recently rose to be manager of human resources at Tyson\u2019s turkey plant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mickelson also went into detail on his roots. He grew up in nearby Rembrandt, Iowa. His family used to raise hogs and sell them to the old Hygrade meatpacking plant. During the 1980s, Mickelson worked as a reporter for the Pilot Tribune<\/em>, and later covered news for a television station in Sioux City. Not long after this, he took the opportunity to work as a communications director for IBP and eventually for Tyson Foods. He has remained in the meatpacking business for the last 35 years, with his current position as a PR specialist at Tyson\u2019s corporate headquarters in Arkansas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Gary Mickelson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Even though he\u2019s spent the last 17 years away from Buena Vista County, Mickelson took great lengths to show how deep his roots were in Northwest Iowa. He explained to us that his ancestors came to the United States as immigrants from Germany, Ireland, and Norway. On his Norwegian roots, Mickelson said, \u201cOne kind of fascinating story to me is one of my great grandparents . . . one of their children wrote down their experience leaving Norway and coming to the United States, and how challenging that was. They felt like they were almost slaves or serfs in Norway.\u201d Implicitly, this could have been meant to draw comparisons between the harsh conditions of Mickelson\u2019s ancestors, and the current rough situations faced by many immigrants working for Tyson today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mickelson\u2019s grandparents did encounter hardships once they came to the United States. They had fifty dollars each to make their new lives in this country. By the time they got to Storm Lake, they only had one cent to their names, no English skills, and no connections to the town. After spending the night at the train depot, Mickelson\u2019s grandparents eventually made connections in town, working as farm hands until they could own a farm themselves. It is a good story of a poor immigrant family working hard and eventually making something for themselves and their children, similar to the current stories of immigrants coming to Storm Lake in the present, looking for a better life. Perhaps that is why Mickelson told it. It\u2019s a multigenerational success story. His current position, as a public relations representative for Tyson, is far removed from his grandparents\u2019 lives and from those of contemporary immigrants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our interview focused on two broad topics. The first was Tyson\u2019s environmental impact, while supplying both the United States and foreign markets with protein. From the start, Mickelson characterized Tyson as part of a supply chain, which includes everything from the farmers growing feed for the pork producers, to the people at the meatpacking plants, to those who transport the meat around the globe, to the companies and grocery store chains that purchase Tyson\u2019s protein. Mickelson made it clear that since most of the pork producers for Tyson work independently from the company, there is not much that it can do to ensure that they are being as environmentally friendly as possible. Despite this, he impressed upon the class how much Tyson is doing to assist in reducing its ecological footprint, including implementing methods to reduce and recycle wastewater and pledging to reduce the company\u2019s greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2030.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not only that, but Tyson has in recent years been diversifying its products to include plant-based protein. According to Mickelson, \u201cWe view ourselves as a protein company and our desire is to be a protein authority. Not just in the United States, but globally.\u201d To that end, Tyson has recently announced that it will begin to add meatless sausages and hamburgers to its product line. This is a continuation and expansion from when Tyson first began to offer plant-based protein products in 2019. While the meatless division of the company only accounts for a small fraction of its business, this move shows that Tyson is diversifying its products in response to current trends among its consumers. Many customers are being more conscientious of what they eat, and are trying to have a more positive impact on the environment through their consumption of plant-based protein.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While this is all great news to hear, is it too little too late, given Tyson\u2019s history with the environment? According to the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, Tyson Foods is the world\u2019s second largest meat producer and, when taking into account all the energy and chemicals used to grow the livestock it relies on (the supply chain Mickelson discussed), the company is one of the largest producers of greenhouse gases on the planet. When Mickelson encourages us to read Tyson\u2019s sustainability report or says things like, \u201cYou need to engage all parts of the supply chain to make progress,\u201d it can feel like a deflection of responsibility of Tyson\u2019s impact on the environment, implicating numerous actors that, as he admits, Tyson has little control over. Even if one were to grant Mickelson that you need to consider the entire supply chain when assessing the company\u2019s impact, such a force remains incredibly destructive. Mickelson did not go into detail on how Tyson was getting independent actors to be more environmentally friendly, merely saying that it needed to happen for true change to occur.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other major topic was worker safety, a recurring theme in many of our other interviews and in our research material. Both Mickelson and Ibarra made it clear that worker safety was the number one priority for Tyson. According to them, the company always looks for new ways to reduce worker injury and stress. This includes increasing automation to reduce the injuries and fill positions, rotating workers to reduce stress, and in some plants hiring ergonomic supervisors to ensure the safety of employees. Given the situation with Covid-19, Tyson has also apparently worked with several local organizations in Storm Lake to keeps many people as safe as possible, including having on-site Covid testing and vaccinations, offering up to four hours of pay for workers to travel and get vaccinated, allowing family and household members to get vaccinated, and (soon) establishing a health clinic, by late May or early June. From their descriptions, it would seem that Tyson is doing its best to ensure that workers are safe and healthy at its plants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Jeaneth Ibarra<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Based on much of the available evidence and interviews we have compiled, according to others, Tyson\u2019s best has not been good enough. Whether it comes from Matthew Marroqu\u00edn or Art Cullen or Steve and Willis Hamilton, the consensus is clear that working at Tyson involves long hours with dangerous, grueling, and monotonous work with a high rate of injury. How many cases of carpel tunnel, broken bones, or other such injuries can occur and still be acceptable to the company, and to the town? Tyson hires over 3,000 people in the Storm Lake area according to Mickelson. It would be interesting to know many of those people have been injured or made sick thanks to the close working conditions and hard work required.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not only that, but recent events relating to Covid-19 have shown how little some in the larger company value the safety of their workers. A wrongful death lawsuit begun last year against Tyson\u2019s Waterloo pork plant has a heap of allegations against the managers and supervisors there. As of November 2020, the allegations included, but are not limited to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n