For Maria del Rosarios Palacios, the deadly liquid nitrogen leak at Foundation Food Group in Gainesville last week is personal.
Palacios joined several advocates for immigration worker rights in a teleconference Monday afternoon, demanding a thorough investigation into the incident and calling for immediate financial help for the affected workers.
"I am here as someone who has worked in poultry herself. I used to be an undocumented worker in one of the facilities that is now part of Foundation Food Group. I am a daughter, a prima, a sobrina and a good friend to many of our impacted families in Gainesville," Palacios said as her voice broke with emotion.
Palacios joined the teleconference as the representative for GA Familias Unidas. She and others - both locally and from elsewhere in the state - said they are grieving the deaths of six employees at the plant, but they also said they are not surprised at what happened.
"We must understand that what happened Thursday is not just an isolated incident, as some would have us believe," said Elliot Lepe, a paralegal with the Southern Poverty Law Center. "The poultry industry is notorious for worker exploitation and for the utter disregard for the health and safety of line workers, particularly immigrant workers and workers of color."
Shelly Anand agreed. The executive director and co-founder of SUR Legal Collaborative said her group had hoped to partner with other organizations to push for better working conditions in the poultry industry under different circumstances. However, Thursday's deadly incident has made their work more urgent.
"In fact, in the last 20 years, there have been 53 fatalities due to nitrogen leaks and now because of the carelessness of this employer, six more workers are dead," Anand said.
Anand said she and other advocates have talked with workers from the facility who have told them there were problems with the liquid nitrogen line the day before the incident. She declined to say how many workers have made the claim, citing attorney-client privilege.
Anand said she wants to see not only a thorough investigation by OSHA, but also she wants the U.S. Department of Labor to investigate the incident, and she wants a criminal investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice.
In a report over the weekend in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, an official with the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board said investigators had learned major portions of the facility's liquid nitrogen system had been replaced in the last four to six weeks. That same official said a complete investigation into the deadly incident could take years.
Despite the news of a lengthy investigation, advocates are demanding swift action for the families of the workers who died and for those workers who were injured. In addition, they want compensation for the employees who are out of work while the plant is closed.
"We're demanding paid time off from the date of the incident on Thursday until they can return to work at their previous status or until they can return to a work at a plant that is nearby them," said Susi Duran with Poder Latinx, the group that organized Monday's teleconference.
Palacios said the workers she had communicated with have received some money from Foundation Food Group, but as she put it, it's not nearly enough. She did not mention a specific dollar amount.
To than end, Palacios and others have organized a Go Fund Me account for the families of the workers who died, offering immediate financial help for funerals. Injured workers will also be eligible for money donated through the Go Fund Me account. Diana Chavez, who is managing the fundraiser, said some of the money had been distributed over the weekend. The goal is $60,000, and by 4 p.m. Monday, almost $31,000 had been donated.
