I spent a couple summers in college working in the meat packing plant in my home town. It paid 2 times more than minimum wage at the time and usually had at least 8 hours of overtime most weeks. In Kansas, the meat packing towns are usually much more diverse than the rest of the state at the time (90% white) due to all the immigrants that would go work there as it paid well for unskilled labor. There were a lot of SE Asians, mostly Thai and Vietnamese, Hispanics, both long time citizens and new immigrants - legal or otherwise, a few blacks, and a bunch of poor whites or white college kids (there was a small university in town) like me making some summer/part-time cash. They always struggled to have enough workers for the 2 shifts they ran. So much so that when I returned to college in Lawrence they told me to keep the equipment and I could go back whenever I wanted and just walk into work. No need to call in and ask if they needed me. Just show up. A few years later they were able to get special visas to bring people in from Mexico because not enough Americans wanted to work there. In mid 2000s a lot of Somalis were settled in these meat packing towns in KS because the government hoped they would go to work in these plants. Pretty much whenever the government has an influx of immigrants they like to settle them in these towns hoping they will go work in the meat packing plants.
They had 2 sides at this plant, a slaughter side for killing the cattle and a processing side that cut the slabs into the separate cuts. I worked on the processing side in packaging (I pulled strings so I would not have to be cutter). All new workers started in processing as a cutter on the floor. Being a cutter is really hard work. The temperature in there is just above freezing. They are working with knives so there are constantly little nicks and cuts or bigger accidents requiring hospital visits (my uncle worked there for 6 months and got a nasty gash on his lower leg from a dropped knife). They basically are outfitted in chain mail from shoulder to hands and over their torsos to their knees, so that is a lot of weight to carry around all day. Cutters specialized in one cut so the chain could move faster so their bodies would often become overdeveloped on one side causing health issues. The work is extremely repetitive so carpal tunnel was almost certain to affect anyone that spent enough time doing cutting work. The environment can be wet from washing the blood and waste off the chain/floor. After 6 months, you could bid on different jobs including the kill side, packaging, or maintenance. Who got the job was based on seniority, so usually you had to be a cutter for years before you could get off the processing floor. The work is mindless as hell (My coworkers and I in packaging used to ask each other trivia questions about music, sports, etc. just to keep our minds busy). Lots of people quit within a couple weeks. One of the guys I went through training with quit the first day. Puked on the floor and walked out. I think 40-50% quit before the first month was over. The best workers were the immigrants. They needed a job and had no support system to fall back on without one. Those guys and gals almost always stuck with it. Most of the quitters were the college and rural whites. The local townies usually stuck it out because their parents and extended family often worked there so they knew what they were getting into.
I really liked almost everyone I worked with there. They were mostly good people that knew they had few options in life and were just doing the best they could with the hand they were dealt. Last I knew there were well over 100 Covid cases at that plant and they only have like 40% of the employees that they had when I was there due to shutting down parts of the plant. Too bad these companies put profit over the lives of the workers. But then that is sadly the case with American corporations too often now days.
Some stories from that place: