Take a good look at that Thanksgiving turkey you pull from the oven, smoker or deep fryer Thursday. If a proposed new rule from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is approved, it may be the last Thanksgiving bird you’ll be sure is free of—if you’re squeamish skip to the next paragraph—tumors, feces, scabs, salmonella and other defects.

The proposed rule would not only allow plant management to increase the speed of poultry processing lines by five times the current limit, it could eliminate the jobs of more than 800 trained federal food safety inspectors and turn many inspection duties over to plant employees.

In one of the largest union elections in Alabama in the past decade, workers at the Pilgrim’s Pride poultry plant in Russellville voted last week by a better than two-to-one margin to join the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU). The main reason the 1,200 workers sought a union voice was to be able to exercise more control over their work lives, said workers and union leaders.