They go downstairs into the basement and get food and supplies for the morning shift. For the next hour or so, the two of them get everything ready. More often, it’s just Elisa and the manager in the restaurant, surrounded by an empty parking lot. Sometimes the husband-and-wife cleaning crew are just finishing up. “When Elisa arrives at McDonald’s, the manager unlocks the door and lets her in. When Duane Mullin had both hands crushed in a hammer mill at the same plant, an IBP representative persuaded him to sign the waiver with a pen held in his mouth.”įast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal

When Lonita Leal's right hand was mangled by a hamburger grinder at the IBP plant in Amarillo, a case manager talked her into signing the waiver with her left hand as she waited in the hospital for surgery. An IBP medical case manager will literally bring the waiver to a hospital emergency room in order to obtain an injured worker's signature. Workers who refuse to sign the IBP waiver not only risk getting no medical care from the company, but also risk being fired on the spot.Injured workers almost always sign the waiver. Under the program's terms, seeking treatment from an independent physician can be grounds for losing all medical benefits. Once workers sign, IBP and its company-approved doctors have control over the job-related medical treatment - for life. Workers who sign the waiver may receive medical care under IBP's Workplace Injury Settlement Program. Signing the waiver means forever surrendering the right to sue IBP on any grounds. “When a worker is injured at an IBP plant in Texas, he or she is immediately presented with a waiver.

Fast food nation the dark side