Abelena Belasquez, left, grabs frozen burritos on the assembly line at the Amy's Kitchen factory in Santa Rosa, Calif., Aug. 25, 2004.The thriving frozen-food company in California _ is being aggressively courted by Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski, who for a year has been trying to persuade organic and natural food businesses in the neighboring state of California to move north. Kulongoski has pointed out to Amy's Kitchen that in Oregon, it could save nearly $4 million on workers compensation costs, energy and taxes. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Amy’s Kitchen factory workers are protesting working conditions in front of Amy’s Drive Thru in Rohnert Park. About 30 workers showed up Wednesday chanting and holding signs in an attempt to be treated better on the production lines. Teamsters organizer, Ricardo Hidalgo, spoke on the KSRO’s the Drive about the dangers of working on a conveyor belt that is moving too fast…
“So that repetitive motion happening at a high rate of speed is what’s causing these injuries,” said Hidalgo. “It is what’s causing workers to make accidents and getting fingers chopped off or cuts.”
Some of the messages on protest signs read, “Amy’s is not made with love, it is crafted with cruelty,” and “We don’t want to be treated like donkeys any more.” Amy’s CEO Andy Berliner has defended the company’s factories saying they are safe.