Introduction John McCulloch is the assistant general manager at the United Beef Packers Blue River processing plant in Nebraska. He has recently started at the plant and has quickly become unhappy with how the workers are treated, as they seem to be working in very dangerous conditions because of the company’s commitment to efficiency. Workers have to sign a document waiving their right to medical opinions outside of company doctors. One worker, Bobby Vasquez, has been with the plant since the 1970s and has suffered several injuries on the job. Some of these injuries were the result of improper protection offered by the plant, and in some cases the company medical doctors grossly underestimated the nature of his injuries. Vasquez told McCulloch that the plant operators give the workers drugs to improve efficiency, and “let tainted meat go out for sale” (Dolansky, 2003, p.280). McCulloch has seen that the company’s policies on safety in terms of both the meat and the workers are surprisingly poor. He has recently learned that the company wants him to fire Vasquez because he suffered a heart attack and was going to require long and expensive recovery that the company did not want to pay for.

Stakeholders
John McCulloch McCulloch is involved in this situation because he feels as though he is personally contributing to the operations of a company that he has strong ethical problems with. If he decides to fire Vasquez and continue working at the plant, he will likely continue making good money but he will be unhappy with himself and his job. If he refuses the command he will likely be fired or at the very least have his upward mobility in the company limited. As an employee of the company he is predisposed to allow certain things to occur without complaint, but as a good person with a family he is concerned about the safety of the meat and the treatment of the workers.
The Workers at United Beef Packers The workers at the plant are being treated the way Vasquez is being treated, and if McCulloch stands up for him it is possible that things will change. If McCulloch goes to the media with information about conditions in the plant it is possible they will have their working conditions improved. However, it is also possible that the company will lay off the workers and try to find even cheaper work if they need to spend money improving safety conditions. The workers likely feel they are being paid well and they probably would prefer to keep their jobs and deal with the risk (if the alternative is losing their job). However, they also might like the idea of someone standing up for them; one day they might be hurt like Vasquez.
Owners and Operators of United Beef Packers If McCulloch refuses to fire Vasquez the owners will do it themselves and possibly find a new assistant general manager. However, if McCulloch goes to the media or the USDA about what he has seen, they could face significant losses in profit. Oddly enough, it seems they are legally immune to a mandatory recall. The bad publicity could still lead to losses in profit and it could even mobilize people to push the government to pay more attention to how things are being done at packing plants. If things continue going as normal, they will likely remain safe and wealthy. They are obviously predisposed to ignore the wellbeing of their workers since their actions indicate they are just maximizing profit.
The American Public (and anyone who Eats UBF Beef) The people eating the meat from UBF obviously have a vested interest in having the plant improve the quality of the meat, so that consumers do not get sick. Furthermore, the ability of companies to get away with such gross violations of worker rights and product safety is bad for the majority of people, and if the media and the government focused more on these things then everyone would benefit from living in a country where companies cannot get away such things.

Ethical Issue(s) One of the primary ethical issues here is the treatment of people working at the plant. The operators are not protecting them because they are more concerned with maximizing profits. Another ethical issue is the treatment of people eating meat, since the sale of tainted beef puts them at risk. In opposition to these ethical issues stands the need to make profit as a business: UBP provides a public service by selling huge amounts of beef that do not get people sick. However, one could argue that they are not performing a public service if it requires treating people unethically and selling large amounts of tainted meat. The issues of meat quality and worker safety are also balanced against the personal financial and career benefits to McCulloch.

Changes Resulting in the Emergence of Ethical Issue(s) In the early 1980s, the recession hit the meat packing industry hard. And consolidation of the industry began. The owner found that it is impossible to get profit and to benefit employees in the meantime. This is the prime change that leads to the contradiction between pecuniary gain and humanity. The ethical issue has emerged for McCulloch because he has started working at the plant and he has witnessed the workers having to work in very dangerous conditions without adequate protection, and then having the healthcare options reduced or even removed. Specifically, the request to have him fire Vasquez has placed McCulloch in a situation where he would be personally acting in a very specific capacity within a process he finds unethical. This request seems to have pushed him to the point where the issue of the treatment of the workers and the attitude toward meat safety have become significant ethical issues.

Available Alternatives
Option 1 – Fire Vasquez McCulloch could fire Vasquez and continue pursuing career advancement at UBP. This would likely make him increasingly wealthy, and he would possibly be able to try and influence the policies of the company to improve safety. However, it is more likely that he will be ignored and eventually phased out if he has too many problems with how the company acts. Furthermore, this option would be unethical since he would be sacrificing the safety of the workers and the safety of everyone who eats UBP meat in order to protect and encourage his own career and finances. In terms of ethical behaviour, this option is not acceptable.
Option 2 – Refuse to Fire Vasquez and Continue Working at the Company McCulloch could tell his boss that he strongly objects to the decision and is not willing to do it. This will likely result in McCulloch losing his job, which means he might have to move his family and find a new job in a new city. It would also have questionable consequences at the company, since it is likely they would hire a new person who is more willing to do what they are told. The ethical ramifications of this decision are positive in the sense that McCulloch would no longer be part of an unethical organization. However, it is possible that the company would let McCulloch keep working, in which case he would still have a problem working at a company that has questionable ethical practices. He might be able to keep working at improving the ethical dimensions of the company but this is unlikely. It would be unethical for McCulloch to continue working at the company because he knows the business practices are unethical.
Option 3 – Refuse to Fire Vasquez, Quit, and go to the Media and the Government McCulloch could refuse to fire Vasquez and tell his bosses that he is no longer interested in working at the plant. This would harm his professional advancement in the short term and possibly the long term. After this he could go to the media and the government and try to let the public know about what is going on at the plant. This could mobilize public support for increasing the regulation of the industry. Another option would be to continue working purely for an opportunity to gather data about company practices, either through interviews with workers or even photo and video evidence. This would help McCulloch build a better case against the company.

Recommendation and Conclusion
Option 3 – Refuse to Fire Vasquez, Quit, and go to the Media and the Government This option is by far the most ethical option, because the unethical behaviour of the company is putting the workers in significant, even life-threatening danger and their attitudes toward meat safety are putting thousands, even millions of people at risk of food-born illnesses. It is impossible to ethically defend working at this company unless one is under the impression that it is possible to quickly and significantly improve these behaviours. McCulloch has a moral obligation to at least make an effort to bring the things he has witnessed to the public and to the enforcement agencies. The other two options are unacceptable because he will continue to be a functioning, effective part of a company that makes money by ignoring or minimizing the welfare of its employees and the safety of its products.