Meat processing plants staying open under Defense Production Act

AnnieA

AnnieA

Well-known Member
Location
Down South
That's a relief! So glad animals ready for market aren't going to be killed at the farms instead of going to market and we'll have meat to buy. The thought of the waste bothered me about as much as shortages. Know this is such a relief for families already suffering economically due to job loss.

Feds sending PPE for workers.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-...ocessing-plants-open-amid-coronavirus-crisis/

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I read somewhere today that one of the unions says they are not going back to work unless health and safety conditions are improved, no matter what the government orders them to do.

They say the reason the virus took such hold in the meat packing plants is because they work shoulder to shoulder on the line with minimal protective equipment, if any at all, and they are not willing to do that any more. I don't blame them one bit.
 
So here's the thing. My grandmother cleaned houses for a living. She made sure my mother could go to secretarial school and work in an office. And my mother made sure I went to college so I could teach school. I'm guessing most of these folks don't have the skill set to do anything else, but have to make a living somehow. Their kids will do better, and the grandkids better still. It was ever thus. I want them to be safe. Employers need to provide masks and gloves. I'm willing to pay more for my meat if it helps.
 
Butterfly said:
I read somewhere today that one of the unions says they are not going back to work unless health and safety conditions are improved, no matter what the government orders them to do.

They say the reason the virus took such hold in the meat packing plants is because they work shoulder to shoulder on the line with minimal protective equipment, if any at all, and they are not willing to do that any more. I don't blame them one bit.
Click to expand...

One of the state's Tyson plants was on the news recently- the workers were around a foot apart from each other, and the so-called dividers were around waist-high. :(
 
Butterfly said:
I read somewhere today that one of the unions says they are not going back to work unless health and safety conditions are improved, no matter what the government orders them to do.

They say the reason the virus took such hold in the meat packing plants is because they work shoulder to shoulder on the line with minimal protective equipment, if any at all, and they are not willing to do that any more. I don't blame them one bit.
Click to expand...

Emphasis mine

Like I said in the OP providing PPE is part of the order ...falls under the materials part of the executive order.

And I don't think unions should have any power under the Defense Production Act. Healthcare workers, first responders didn't stop working and hospitals or law enforcement close down. We think we're in an economic slump now because of Covid19, but wow!!! at what a disruption in the food supply would do. If you think this all the way through, the economic devastation of the shutdown would be immense. Food prices would increase across the board because people would buy other foods disproportionately to replace meat and the supply of replacement foods isn't geared for that volume ...food doesn't just fall out of the sky. The domino effect starts with farmers, then the meat industry itself, retailers, restaurants already struggling due to curbside service only, families with providers laid off who would suffer due to food cost increases, retirees with little beyond SS.

I also hope that there are permanent industry safety improvements as a result of Covid19, but this is a crisis situation and the job has to get done. I understand that workers may be scared and they certainly have the right to quit, but they shouldn't be guaranteed their job back later if they choose to quit in a national emergency.
 
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Tyson has a large presence in our area....gobs of poultry farms, and a large processing plant in Sedalia, MO. If you go to the Walmart in Sedalia on a weekend, or in the evening, you almost feel "out of place" speaking English....most customers are babbling in Spanish. If the ICE ever raided that plant, it would be shut down for lack of "immigrant labor".
 
AnnieA said:
That's a relief! So glad animals ready for market aren't going to be killed at the farms instead of going to market and we'll have meat to buy. The thought of the waste bothered me about as much as shortages. Know this is such a relief for families already suffering economically due to job loss.

Feds sending PPE for workers.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-...ocessing-plants-open-amid-coronavirus-crisis/

.
Click to expand...
Sorry to rain on your parade, but millions of chickens are/have been killed.
 
Update from the locale: one of the employees in the meat department at the grocery store said yesterday the meat shortage is going to get worse. I noticed this a few weeks ago, as then and yesterday there was no beef except for hamburger.
 
If working conditions aren't improved significantly I don't think they should go back to work. Considering the close proximity that they are working in, the masks should be good quality and not have gaps in them that the virus can get through. If they are not trained on how to remove the masks and gloves properly they still risk getting infected.
 
Watch "Forks Over Knives" and then post again, y'all. I'm very quickly becoming accustomed to a plant-based diet and more and more unwilling to eat anything that had a "face."

After seeing pictures of the feed lots, processing and meat-packing plants, both in the documentary and in recent news stories, I'm not convinced I even want to eat anything produced under such conditions.

It's not just the treatment of the animals and fowl and the very real health hazards of eating meat (especially red meat), it's also the treatment of those who work at the processing plants. A news report I read a couple of weeks ago said that at one plant, the plant management sent printed notices to all employees warning of the pandemic and to be sure to wash their hands often, use hand sanitizer, self-isolate if tested positive, maintain 6-foot distance from others, etc., and to share the information with their families. The notice was in English...English, not English and Spanish, and sent to Spanish-speaking employees. The plant did not provide masks or gloves, nor did they pay for 14-days of self-isolation if needed.

The unions are there to protect the employees. We don't absolutely need to have meat. We want to have meat, but we can muddle along without it. Let's not be too quick to condemn the people who work in those plants because "they can leave" or "if they'd gotten an education, they wouldn't have to work there." The poor you will always have with you...Matthew 26:11.

This pandemic is not about what we want; it's about what we must do to bring it under control so that it sickens/kills far fewer people than it is now.
 
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