Tuesday, May 15, 2012

New poultry plant rules, child labor on the farm, and Charlie Louvin's memoirs on tap

Apologies for the delay in posting. The end-of-semester rush here at the University of Mississippi, where I teach journalism, kept me away from the blog, but things should ease up soon.

Coming up will be another Labor South roundup with the following items scheduled:
- Government plans to allow the line speed in poultry plants to increase, making it more likely for workers to develop carpal tunnel syndrome and other repetitive motion problems. It's just too bad those workers don't have the thick wallets their bosses have to pay lobbyists to protect their interests.
- On a similar note, the debate in Washington regarding proposed child farm labor restrictions has had Southern members up in arms. And you can believe it's not the children that got them concerned. Remember these Southern pols are the philosophical descendants of those Depression-era members of Congress who successfully exempted farm workers from New Deal labor protections.
- Why is it the spectre of bankruptcy is raised whenever airlines want to take on labor unions? Memphis-based Pinnacle is the latest.

A little farther down the road expect a review of a book I'm reading, Satan Is Real by country music legend Charlie Louvin. So far I'm definitely "louvin" this book, which details Charlie and his brother Ira's rise to stardom from their cotton patch origins in Alabama. The book reads (so far) like one of the Louvin Brothers' haunting songs, Southern gothic at its core!

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