Narrative: Kenny Dobbins, Victim of the Meatpackers

This sad story was told in the book Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser. Kenny Dobbins was a steady hard working employee of Monfort Meatpacking for more than fifteen years. Unlike many meatpackers who tried to organize and start unions, Kenny was loyal to his job and his employer and focused on working and obeying the rules rather than trying to change what every employee knew was wrong with the company. In the company’s eyes he may have been seen as the star employee; he always put Monfort’s problems in front of his own and was always willing to sacrifice for the company. So then why when he faced physical problems from injury at the plant and emotional problems from his wife leaving him did he get fired without significant compensation? IN the minds of Monfort and the meat packing industry in general, there is no room for a completely steady career in meat packing; injury and hardship make it one the most disposable and heartless jobs in America.
At age twenty-four Kenny started the beginning of the end of his career and life as he knew it at the Monfort slaughterhouse. Being accustomed to never having the luxury of partaking in activities that were easy, Kenny had no problems working long hours, carrying 120 pound crates around. One day Kenny managed to catch a ninety pound crate which fell from an upper level. This was the start of his real problems. Kenny had been thrown off balance when he caught the crate and injured his back. Monfort’s doctor took a look at Kenny and “said the pain was just a pulled muscle” (Schlosser 187). In fact he had two severely herniated disks. After extensive surgery, no workers compensation, and a divorce, Kenny persevered through the agony and started his work again at the slaughterhouse. Monfort provided no assistance for Kenny which was an effort to discourage him from wanting to continue work at the plant.
When transferred to a new facility Kenny was forced to partake in hard physical exercise once more because his supervisors “said that old restrictions didn’t apply in this new job” (Schlosser 188). Pain led to more pain as Kenny still willingly lifted forty to fifty pound slabs of beef, straining his feeble back. Each time his pain would become unbearable Monfort would transfer him to another sector. Although he was just trying to make an honest living, “Monfort was trying to get rid of Kenny, trying to make his work so unpleasant that he’d quit” (Schlosser 188). In street clothes Kenny was forced to disinfect the plant with a dangerous chlorine chemical spray which made him ill and forced him to spend a month in the hospital. After all his ordeals he still felt loyal to the company that was pushing him to the breaking point so that he would quit since they technically could not fire him. Although the meatpacking companies do not seem to be doing anything to benefit their employees, their blatant harassment toward Kenny is unprecedented by any moral standards. These companies thrive on having their employees quit so they may hire fresh ones. The older and more experienced workers build more a hatred toward the conditions of the plant than the oblivious fresh ones. So this system seems to not be exempt from anyone, not even if they have worked there for twenty years.
Kenny was not just an employee who worked for his own gains however; he was also actively aiding his fellow workers. On one occasion Kenny saved the life of his fellow employee from having his head crushed in a meant processing machine. To save his life “Kenny ran across the room, grabbed the man by the seat of his pants, and pulled him away from the machine an instant before it would have pulverized him” (Schlosser 189). For this his remarkable company gave him the award for “Outstanding Achievement in Concern For Fellow Workers” (Schlosser 189). It is a shame that Kenny could be so passionate in helping others including his family and his other workers yet his own company cannot show any concern for their own workers. The merit of his award seems almost fraudulent since it was awarded from a beast that encompasses everything that opposes “concern”.
Today Kenny has permanent heart damage, lung damage and a leg that has elaborate pins and splints in it. After all the support that Kenny showed the company, even staying loyal in the biggest union uprisings, they fired him without a pension. The only compensation that he received was $35,000. His monthly medical bill for his insurance due to the injuries he received at Monfort is $600 a month. The betrayal that Kenny feels is more than any normal person can imagine. He lives alone and has no help form anyone now. We should be concerned about this story since Kenny is not the only one suffering from the meatpacking companies. Every day workers without proper training are being thrown into these dangerous factories and are being injured beyond repair. The power of the meatpacking industry is so large that it even expands beyond government control. We must all come together to stop the abuse and oppression of the poor workers so no one has to face Kenny’s situation again.