California will have an animal rights measure on the ballot for the November elections. Proposition 2 will eliminate the practice of crating animals, specifically pregnant pigs, chickens and calves:

The Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act provides the most basic protection to farm animals: merely allowing them to turn around and extend their limbs. It’s hard to imagine a more moderate initiative. The purpose of the measure is to prevent three of the most cruel and inhumane forms of extreme confinement in the world of animal agribusiness: veal crates, battery cages, and gestation crates. All three of these practices have already been legislated against in the European Union.

I support this bill 100%. But even as I support it, I also wonder at workers rights. The workers who work with these animals are on many levels, treated just as inhumanly as the animals are, or they’re expected to do inhuman violence for little to no pay and almost no worker protections.

I definitly don’t think that the fight to end violence in factory farms needs to be an either/or process (as in, either the workers or the animals), but I do wish that prominent animal rights/vegan groups would give an occasional shout out to workers that are organizing against work place abuse or take a position on work place raids. As an example, where has PETA been in reaction to the Postville raids (which have a clear connection to workers organizing against work place violence and abuse)?

On a somewhat related note: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has prepared an order to cut the pay of about 200,000 state workers to the federal minimum wage of $6.55 an hour until a budget is signed.