Job hunting in Oshawa

So I'm looking through the Oshawa This Week (local 'shwa paper) classifieds section and come across an interesting ad:

"FULL TIME CHICKEN CATCHERS wanted immediately transportation is provided. Call 1-800-265-1170 anytime."

Once I recovered from a hysterical fit of laughter, the line "Do the chickens have large talons?" from Napoleon Dynamite came to mind, which I shared with my brother. More laughter ensued.

Curious to know if the job involves much more than what its title might suggest, I googled "chicken catchers oshawa" and found this excerpt from the minutes of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, dated Thursday October 21, 2004, as stated by Mr Peter Kormos (Niagara Centre):

"Chicken catchers: I can tell you that we have a strong community of chicken catchers down where I come from in Niagara and, I think, in every part of the province where chickens are produced. They are bused out, trucked out, vanned out to chicken barns, usually in the dark of night. I know one of the Liberals, Mrs Van Bommel, could elaborate on this, because she's a chicken farmer. You're talking about barns that contain not just 50 chickens, not 150 chickens but thousands of chickens. And you're talking about an industry that doesn't have any standards around health and safety. You're not talking about an industry that, as part of its culture, has safety clothing assigned to it -- safety boots and goggles. Many chicken catchers even bring their own bottle of water, because they can't necessarily expect to get water -- it's piecework.

They rush into these chicken barns with thousands of chickens and literally chase them -- the chickens don't like to be caught, do they, Mr Ouellette? -- and there is a dust storm of chicken feces and chicken urine and various mites and insects. That's what causes the infected nostrils and the infected eyes. Of course, as they are being caught, the chickens will urinate into the chicken catcher's eyes, causing incredible discomfort and, quite frankly, pain, and the chickens will claw away and scratch the wrists, and those wrists will get infected. You're in a condition where you can't run out and wash off with anti-bacterial soap every time you catch a chicken; you have to keep chasing these damned things and getting them into crates, and other people are throwing those crates on to the back of the huge trucks that you see from time to time travelling across the 400-series highways and the QEW.

These are hard-working women and men. They understand that they are not in a high-wage industry; they know that. They know that they're never going to be shopping at Holt Renfrew or at any of those places on Bloor Street; they know that.

They know that, as often as not, rather than buying the groceries at a Loblaws or a Zehrs or Pupo's, they're going to be at the food bank. Because when you're a low-wage worker like that, with an unstable, irregular income, you're one of the working poor, you're one of that increasing number of people here in the city of Toronto -- my Toronto colleagues will confirm this -- where to work and to be working steadily doesn't necessarily mean that you have a home. Does it, Mr Prue?"

Mr Prue: "It doesn't."

. . . I start Monday.