Big Boss, Little Boss

The Uncertain Hour

Marketplace

Government, News

4.8 • 2.2K Ratings

🗓️ 10 March 2021

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

After Jimmy Nicks’ job was subcontracted, he took both companies to court — the subcontractor he worked for and its client, Koch Foods. The “little boss” and the “big boss.” His case hinged in part on those familiar six words, “to suffer or permit to work,” and this week we’ll revisit their origins. The story begins at the scene of a deadly fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, where one witness would go on to devote her life’s work to prevent such tragedies from happening again. A century later, the law she helped craft, the Fair Labor Standards Act, served as the legal basis for Jimmy’s case — and others.

For even more of “The Uncertain Hour,” subscribe to our newsletter! Each week we’ll bring you a note from host Krissy Clark and explain some terms that have come up in our reporting. This week we’re looking at “sweating system.”

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hey, you'll love this episode even more if you also listen to the one before it
0:16.6	Back before the pandemic Jimmy Nick's and Willie Easter sat down for lunch one day with senior producer Caitlin Ash
0:22.9	They went to a local spot and forest Mrs. Cippy near where they live
0:27.0	So what's good here
0:29.0	Actually, I like chapish, but chicken is good also. Yeah, I was chicken on a stick chicken on a stick if you like chicken on a stick
0:37.8	We ordered these huge plates of food with greens and baked beans and hush puppies and chicken
0:44.2	I had the
0:45.8	Chicken and fish combo and also got some greens from my
0:50.8	Associate Natalie
0:54.2	Chicken tenders
0:56.0	They both ordered chicken in spite of what they told me the chickens have done to them
1:02.3	You have a chicken live they pick you they crap on you the chicken might even screw you mouth you don't watch it
1:12.4	I mean it's sad to say but it happens to some people now
1:15.7	This is the stuff that chicken catches has to go through that's Jimmy
1:19.6	He was working as a chicken catcher back in 2016
1:22.7	That is he was going out to farm sometimes in the middle of the night to catch live chickens that then went on to slaughterhouses and
1:29.6	grocery stores and restaurants and finally to our plates
1:33.2	Jimmy caught chickens for cook foods when he started the job
1:37.1	He worked directly for cook, but one day he was told he would need to start working for a subcontractor instead
1:44.3	Doing the same work, but now for less money and with no benefits
1:48.5	The work was hard the pay was low Jimmy was not paid by the hour
1:54.0	But by the thousand chickens caught he says he wasn't making overtime and sometimes when he counted up all his hours
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Marketplace, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Marketplace and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.