The stories are hard to stomach. In a watchdog report by Oxfam America, workers at America’s largest poultry processing plants revealed the horrific conditions they’re allegedly forced to endure in order to keep their jobs and produce the chicken that winds up on dinner plates across the country.

A woman named Dolores, who worked at a Simmons plant in Arkansas, was denied permission to use the bathroom “many, many times,” so she started wearing a sanitary napkin. It would fill up too quickly, so she resorted to diapers. “I had to wear Pampers. I and many, many others had to wear Pampers,” she told interviewers. She said she felt like she had “no worth, no right to ask questions or to speak up.”

A man named Jose, who worked at a Pilgrim’s plant in Alabama, said supervisors would regularly threaten people, saying, “Go to the bathroom, and from there, go to human resources.” He witnessed many women crying about not getting to go to the bathroom, even if they were menstruating.

To meet the strict five-minute break limit, workers said they would strip off their gear while running to the restroom—a dangerous act as processing plant floors can be slippery with fat, blood, water, and other liquids.

Many employees said they have urinated or defecated on themselves while handling the food.

After interviewing thousands of poultry processing workers at companies including Tyson, Pilgrim’s, Perdue and Sanderson Farms, injustice group Oxfam America launched a campaign called #GiveThemABreak, which calls for the top poultry companies to improve conditions for America’s 250,000 poultry processing workers. There’s a petition here.

How did things even get to this point? Has there been any improvement at all? What can the public do to help? Two of the brains behind the campaign—Oliver Gottfried, a senior advocacy and collaborations advisor at Oxfam America and Magaly Licolli, the executive director of the Northwest Arkansas Workers’ Justice Center, showed up for a Reddit AMA to talk about what’s going on behind the scenes of the push for more humane conditions.

Here’s what we learned.

Why focus on the issue of bathroom breaks?

How can you prove this is really going on?

How has an entire industry has been able to skirt Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) laws?

What does the law say about bathroom break requirements on the job?

How have changes in the speed of the processing line impacted the health and safety of workers?

Why focus on the poultry industry?

How will change occur? What needs to happen?

Do unionized workers experience similar problems?

Do poultry plants in Europe and Canada have these issues?

Have there been any changes since you’ve launched the campaign?

Read the full discussion in the original AMA.