The suit, filed in federal court in
In its lawsuit, the
The government contends the data consulting firm helped to share the information about the workers’ compensation with the companies and their executives. By carrying out the scheme, officials allege, the companies were able to compete less intensely for workers and reduce the amount of money and benefits they had to offer their employees, suppressing competition for poultry processing workers across the board, according to court papers.
The defendants and unnamed co-conspirators in the lawsuit account for hiring about 90% of all chicken processing jobs in the nation.
The suit is the latest example of the Justice Department’s antitrust enforcement targeting companies the government believes engage in anticompetitive behavior to stifle workers or harm consumers. It also comes as the department continues a broader investigation into labor abuses in the poultry industry.
"Through a brazen scheme to exchange wage and benefit information, these poultry processors stifled competition and harmed a generation of plant workers who face demanding and sometimes dangerous conditions to earn a living,” said Doha Mekki, the principal deputy assistant attorney general for the
The suit against the companies was filed with a proposed consent decree — a settlement that would require the companies to pay
The settlement would also put in place a federal monitor selected by the
The suit comes as
The companies plan to combine
The proposed consent decree would also resolve allegations that
The farmers sign contracts to raise the chickens, and the processing companies provide the birds and the feed. The farmers' pay is then determined by how well they perform compared with other chicken growers. The
Generally, chicken producers enter long-term contracts with meat companies that farmers say lock them into deals that fix their compensation at unprofitably low levels.
As part of that settlement,
The proposed consent decree with the poultry companies and one with the data company were filed in court on Monday. Under federal law, the proposals would also be published in the
This story has been corrected to show the settlement calls for restitution of
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