"And they embittered their lives with harsh labor . . . and in all sorts of work in the fields" (Exod. 1:14). The Rabbis find this verse confusing. Why mention hard labor and then say "in all sorts of work in the fields"? They reasoned that, after finishing their work in mortar and bricks, the Israelites would return to their homes to rest. Then an Egyptian would come and say, "Go out and gather greens for me in the garden patch," "Split this log for me," "Fill this cask for me from the river." Hence: "In all sorts of work in the fields."                     (Tanhuma, Va-yetze, # 9

When we speak of slavery in Egypt, what do we imagine? Well, most of us probably haven’t thought about it much. Our closest image of slavery comes from the American plantations. Perhaps the ancient form of slavery, whether in Egypt or elsewhere in the ancient Near East was like that. Most likely, it was not.  We may even be aware that slavery still exists in our world today. Yet we also know that workers can be oppressed and not be considered “slaves.

This passage emphasizes the nature of the master’s cruelty. It was not the work itself, but the mean-spirited way that the workers were exploited. Their daily work was not the cause of their suffering—it was the added burden, and the sense that they had no right to their own lives.

When we say the blessing over our food, and thank God for bringing forth bread from the earth, we also think about the many people who have contributed to our meal, from the growers to the processors to the sellers. Last week, I shared some of Eric Schlosser’s observations from his bestseller, Fast Food Nation.  I spoke of the impact that the fast food industry has had on the food we eat, whether we are customers at fast food outlets or not. This week, as we consider the lessons of our seders and observe the week of Passover in commemoration of our people’s own redemption, I’d like to present some more of Schlosser’s book, focusing on the people who work to bring us our food.

You don’t need to eat at McDonald’s to be affected by its presence in society.

In 1968, there were 1000 McDonalds restaurants.

In 2002, there were 30,000 worldwide, with 2000 added every year.

90 percent of new jobs in the US are in the service industry.

1 out of 8 workers has worked at McDonalds.

1 million workers are hired ever year—more than any public or private organization.

3.5 million fast food workers—the largest group of minimum wage earners in the US.

Who are these people behind the counter?

2/3 of fast-food workers are under the age of 20, including many managers and assistant managers. Why? Is this work suited to teenagers? Are they better trained, more agile, more responsible workers? The fast-food industry thrives on part-time, unskilled workers who are willing to accept low pay.

They receive no useful training—their jobs are so simplified they do not need to do any real preparation. Everything arrives frozen, canned, dehydrated or freeze-dried.

The workers at fast-food outlets are the assembly-line workers of the restaurant industry. Their goal is, like people working on a line, speed and volume, in order to put out goods at the lowest price possible. This is called “throughput”—the system of “doing things faster in order to make more.” A McDonald’s counter is more like a factory than a kitchen. Conveyer belts carry the food through the grill or the oven to ensure a standardized cooking time. Because every task has very specific directions, the workers themselves become interchangeable parts of the factory.

Not only teenagers, but immigrants, the elderly and the handicapped find themselves at the low end of this food industry. Now, one might make the case that these jobs are giving valuable work and wages to the underclass of our society. One might even imagine that a job at McDonald’s offers an entrée into the world of work, a first job, a training opportunity. At the very least, one learns to arrive at work on time. Since fast-food is generally a franchise industry, individual store owners may even treat their employees with fairness and compassion. But the philosophy of the fast food industry regarding its workers tells a different story.

This is an industry that has learned to minimize training, moving from instructions in writing to pictures, making the machines run themselves. The fast-food industry has taken advantage of millions of dollars in government subsidies meant for job training and tax credits for hiring low-income workers. Our tax dollars pay McDonald’s so they can hire poor workers at low wages with no benefits.

Fast food workers are now at the same economic level as migrant workers in the orchards and groves and fields across our country—moving from job to job, with little hope of advancement, no benefits, long hours and low pay. And to keep these workers affordable, the industry has successfully fought against increases in the minimum wage for decades. In fact, they have sought to eliminate the minimum wage laws altogether by allowing states simply to disregard it. And while a worker may work long hours, they work on a hourly wage as at-will laborers—whose weekly shifts almost never add up to forty hours a week—the minimum necessary for paying overtime. Fast food chains have been known to reward management for keeping labor costs low, using such techniques as coercing workers to work without pay after their shifts end or falsifying time cards.

Why don’t these workers rebel? Why don’t they form unions to fight these injustices? First of all, like slaves in Egypt, their fears of being fired result in an overall culture of obedience. Because of the nature of the work, the short-term stays, the part-time work, the isolation of each franchise, the industry has successfully and brutally fought against unions. In one case where the crew members succeeded in joining a union, in Montreal in 1997, after months of legal hassles and other stalling techniques, the owners of the restaurant simply closed it just weeks before the union was to be certified. Workers received one day’s notice of the closing. 

Let’s consider yet another perspective on slavery in Egypt.

“And the Egyptians made the children of Israel serve with parekh." 

“beparech” is usually translated as “with rigor.” But the Talmud tells the following story.

R. Eleazar said: The word means "with gentle speech (peh rakh)." After Pharaoh said, "Let us act craftily," he gathered all Israel and, affecting gentleness, said, "I beg you, as a special favor, work alongside me today." Then Pharaoh picked up a basket and a shovel, and everyone who saw him pick up the basket and shovel and work at the making of bricks did likewise. Thus it came about that Israelites worked to the fullness of their strength and with great eagerness alongside Pharaoh. But when it grew dark, he stationed taskmasters over the Israelites and said, "Reckon up the number of bricks." After the taskmasters counted them, the Israelites were told, "This is to be the number you are to provide me each and every day."                (B. Sot 11b; Tanhuma B, Be-haalotekha,   #23)

Pharaoh used his slaves as if they were expendable and interchangeable, with the goal of preventing the slaves from rising up against him. The fast-food industry follows a similar philosophy, knowing that if one worker leaves, there are plenty more who are willing to take their places.

Let’s leave the fast-food restaurants for now. There are plenty of other workers down the line who are responsible for bringing us the products that end up in Burger King or on the school cafeteria tray or in our supermarkets. Schlosser tells us that “Meatpacking is now the most dangerous job in the United States.” The number of workers injured in slaughterhouses is three times higher than in the average American factory, and there is ample evidence that injuries are highly underreported.

The slaughterhouses are the victims of the same greed that has turned our teenagers into cogs in a fast-food factory:  the assembly line, or the “disassembly line” as it’s called in this industry. Unlike the old slaughterhouses in Chicago, which slaughtered 50 cattle an hour, today some plants slaughter 400 cattle an hour. Pharaoh increased the quota of bricks while taking away the straw they needed to make them. Modern day meatpackers send cattle down an ever-fast conveyer belt, pushing workers with sharp knives to work harder and faster in order to keep their jobs.  As they work faster, they have no time to keep the knives sharp, forcing workers to press harder and resulting in stress injuries.

The meat packers are often migrant workers, poor immigrants who receive no benefits and low wages. When they are injured, the bosses do their best to make their lives unpleasant so that they will quit, and a newer, healthier worker can take their place. Meatpacking used to be a respectable job, with decent pay. But since the industry moved its slaughterhouses out of a central, urban location, setting up small plants across the west and southwest, meatpackers have lost their ability to unionize, to redress grievances, and to join together for better pay and better working conditions. At the same time, the industry revolutionized its processing plants, requiring a less-skilled workforce.

I have only skimmed the surface of these tales. I have not shared the individual stories, or talked about the impact of fast-food on the farmers and ranchers. I have not talked about the environmental impact of grazing practices. I hope that you will find the stomach to read the book for yourself.

We read of the four children at the seder. We are all of those children, at one time or another, asking questions, getting information, learning how to change the world. First, we need to understand the lives of the people who make our lives easier, who bring us the food we eat, who raised the cattle and grew the potatoes, who stun the cattle and shackle them and slit their throats and carve them up, who clean up after hours at the slaughterhouses at great risk. That is the task of the wise child, to find out all we can, to become aware.

Then we can to take the stand of the rebellious child, to stand up to the authorities who tell us this is the way it’s always been, and this is the way it has to be. We need to be the ones to insist on the enforcement of child labor laws, or minimum wage laws, or overtime. We need to protest when those who violate health and safety regulations are punished with miniscule fines. Improving health and safety for workers will also improve health and safety for us, the consumers. We need to stand up for the poor, the immigrants, the disabled, who have no unions, no advocates, no voice to speak up against the forces of greed.

We can also be the simple child, the one who doesn’t need to lobby Congress or sign petitions. We can simply say no to cheap products that carry with them the taint of oppression as easily as the taint of contamination. We can to recognize our place in the food chain, our place among Pharaoh’s taskmasters, as the consumers who drive the greed in the first place.

Or we can even be the one who does not know how to ask. We can speak with our feet. As Schlosser concludes:

“Pull open the glass door, feel the rush of cool air, walk inside, get in line, and look around you, look at the kids working in the kitchen, at the customers in their seats, at the ads for the latest toys, study the backlit color photographs above the counter, think about where the food came from, about how and where it was made, about what is set in motion in every single fast food purchase, the ripple effect near and far, think about it. Then place your order. Or turn and walk out the door. It’s not too late. Even in this fast food nation, you can still have it your way.”