Current Events > A third of the workforce at a Tyson plant in Iowa got Coronavirus

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https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/10/business/economy/coronavirus-tyson-plant-iowa.html?smid=tw-share

On April 10, Tony Thompson, the sheriff for Black Hawk County in Iowa, visited the giant Tyson Foods pork plant in Waterloo. What he saw, he said, shook me to the core.

Workers, many of them immigrants, were crowded elbow to elbow as they broke down hog carcasses zipping by on a conveyor belt. The few who had face coverings wore a motley assortment of bandannas, painters masks or even sleep masks stretched around their mouths. Some had masks hanging around their necks.

Sheriff Thompson and other local officials, including from the county health department, lobbied Tyson to close the plant, worried about a coronavirus outbreak. But Tyson was less than cooperative, said the sheriff, who supervises the countys coronavirus response, and Iowas governor declined to shut the facility.

Waterloo Tyson is running, the company said in a text message to employees on April 17. Thank you team members! WE ARE PROUD OF YOU!

Five days later, the plant was closed. Tyson said the reason was worker absenteeism. As of Thursday, the county health department had recorded 1,031 coronavirus infections among Tyson employees more than a third of the work force. Some are on ventilators. Three have died, according to Tyson.

The plant didnt stay closed for long. As meat shortages hit grocery stores and fast-food restaurants, political pressure built to get the dozens of plants across the country that had shut down because of virus outbreaks up and running again. After an executive order by President Trump declared the meat supply critical infrastructure and shielded the companies from certain liability, Tyson reopened its Waterloo facility on Thursday.

New safety precautions have been added, like plexiglass barriers along the production line, infrared temperature scanners to detect fevers, and face shields and masks for the workers.

Now the question is: Will Americas appetite for meat be sated without sickening armies of low-wage workers, and their communities, in new waves of infection?

Workers and their advocates say Tysons actions and recent federal safety guidelines have come far too late. They point to lapses that Tyson made in the first three weeks of April, as the virus tore largely unimpeded through the Waterloo plant.

As high-level executives lobbied the White House to help protect Tyson from lawsuits, the company was failing to provide adequate safety equipment to Waterloo workers and refusing the requests of local officials to close the plant, according to more than two dozen interviews with plant employees, immigrant-rights advocates, doctors, lawyers and government officials.

While Tyson began changing its policies on short-term disability benefits in late March to encourage sick workers to stay home, many employees were not certain of the rules, and some went to work sick to avoid losing pay. Rumors and misinformation spread among workers, many of whom are not native English speakers. As the work force dwindled, fear gripped the plant.

Steve Stouffer, the head of Tysons beef and pork operations, said in an interview that the company had made the best safety decisions it could in a rapidly evolving situation. But he acknowledged that the company might have done more.

Looking at it in the rearview mirror, you can always be better, he said.

Sheriff Thompson said that he was thankful for the new safety precautions but that Tyson had been too slow to act.

Which is more important? he asked. Your pork chops, or the people that are contracting Covid, the people that are dying from it?

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So what. Karens need their chicken to keep little Bobby plump for marriage.

They implemented much safer operating procedures. That's definitely a positive.
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Antifar posted...

Which is more important? he asked. Your pork chops, or the people that are contracting Covid, the people that are dying from it?

>rhetorical question to the point of almost being satirical

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...well at least i have chicken!

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They need to automate these meat factories.

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Dollars are worth more than a worker in need
More than John and Jane Doe with a family to feed

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AsucaHayashi posted...

>rhetorical question to the point of almost being satirical