The USDA proposes to increase the line speed at poultry plants, which could endanger employees who already work long hours doing repetitive hand motions.

At poultry plants, employees already work around-the-clock hours performing repetitive motions that cause skeletal-muscular disorders and hand injuries. So why is the USDA proposing to increase the line speed? In this episode of Nation Conversations, Gabriel Thompson, who once spent a month working at a large poultry plant, joins Executive Editor Betsy Reed to talk about the proposal and the effect it could have on workers.

Gabriel Thompson’s recent article, “New Rules Mean New Hardship for Poultry Workers,” appears in this week’s issue of The Nation.

Subscribe to Nation Conversations on iTunes for exclusive audio of Nation editors and writers digging into the topics and issues that shape the magazine. Check back for a new episode each Thursday.

—Erin Schikowski