Tina’s Burritos worker killed in industrial meatgrinder identified as 19-year-old Brayan Neftali Otoniel Canu Joj
...The 19-year-old worker who was killed earlier this month at the Tina’s Burritos frozen-food plant in Vernon, California has been identified as Brayan Neftali Otoniel Canu Joj. He was from Santa Lucía Utatlán, a small town of 22,000 people in the Sololá department of Guatemala, whose economy is sustained by agriculture, artisanal crafts and the remittances of migrant workers who sacrifice everything to provide for their loved ones from afar.
Brayan’s life was cut short in the most horrifying way imaginable. While cleaning an industrial meat grinder, he was pulled inside the machine. Colleagues heard him screaming but could not stop the mechanism. By the time emergency responders arrived, Brayan was already dead…
The past year has seen a grim series of workplace tragedies: a fireworks warehouse explosion in Esparto, California; two postal workers dying from heat exhaustion; crane collapse fatalities in Florida; a sewage boat explosion in New York City; an Amazon warehouse death. Each one is a stark indictment of a profit system that treats workers’ lives as disposable.
The circumstances bear striking similarities to the April 7 death of 63-year-old autoworker Ronald Adams Sr. at Stellantis’ Dundee Engine Plant in Michigan. Adams was crushed by an overhead gantry while he was performing maintenance…