Poultry worker advocates rally outside Salisbury Perdue facility

Wednesday morning, poultry worker advocates rallied outside a Perdue poultry processing facility in the hopes of sending a strong message to Perdue officials .

"Perdue is known for having advertising and messaging about how they have many practices to take care of how their chickens are treated  and we want them to be more outspoken and actually show in reality that they can do the same for their workers," says Alexander Galimberti, from Oxfam America.

Members of Oxfam America  and  CATA-The Farmworker Support Committee tell us the purpose of Wednesday's rally is to urge Perdue to improve working conditions for their employees. Both groups tell 47 ABC about common complaints brought to them by poultry workers.

"They face issues with workplace health and safety, with not having access to bathroom breaks," says Galimberti.

"When they need time off to make medical appointments they've been told to make appointments after working hour. Perdue has a very good policy in writing, but I don't think the supervisors implement those policies well enough," says Leila Borrero -Krouse, from CATA.

During the rally, advocates delivered packages containing over 100,000 signatures from consumers in an Oxfam petition. 47 ABC reached out to Perdue for a response to this rally and the claims made.

A member of Perdue's corporate communications team responded with this statement.

"The safety and well-being of our Perdue associates is a top priority. The claims made by Oxfam are unfounded and inconsistent with our belief and practice of putting people first. We constantly strive to create an even safer, healthier and more inclusive workplace for all of our associates" – says Andrea Staub, the SVP, Corporate Communications for Perdue Farms, Inc.

Rally organizers say they will continue to stand in solidarity with poultry processing workers, as well as pressure poultry companies to lead by example.

"We believe that all companies can do better," says Galimberti.