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Meat plant workers. (Photo: Shutterstock)
A Death Sentence for Meatpackers
Meatpackers are contracting COVID-19 and dying. Trump is requiring them to work—and shielding their employers from liability.
Apr 29, 2020
Meat processing plants are high risk for spreading COVID-19, and many are shutting down. Animals due for processing have nowhere to go, and they are being culled.
Workers there aren't treated a great deal better.
I've interviewed one meatpacker who worked at a pork plant, years ago. He told me he was recruited with promises of good wages and benefits, but when he got there, those benefits were unattainable.
It seems like one of the Trump administration's primary responses to the pandemic is using it as an excuse to cut regulations, like environmental protections -- or in this case, the right to a safe and healthy workplace.
He described long hours doing repetitive work quickly, and everyone having debilitating repetitive stress injuries. He told me he has a bladder condition and he was not allowed to go to the bathroom, so he wet his pants. Twice. A grown man.
His supervisors then suspected he was drunk, and of course he wasn't.
His story squares with Eric Schlosser's depictions in Fast Food Nation. Meatpacking plants are dangerous, exploitative workplaces that often prey on vulnerable populations like immigrants and people of color. Schlosser shows how meatpacking plants moved to rural areas from the cities and attracted marginalized groups as labor.
Our supply chain relies on meatpacking plants and their workers, and right now working could risk peoples' lives. More than 4,400 workers have the coronavirus and 18 have died.
Yet Donald Trump now plans to order meatpacking plants to stay open and shield them from liability for workers becoming infected with COVID-19 on the job.
I care about the economy a lot -- I'm finishing a PhD and worried about job prospects. But this is essentially saying that meatpacking plants are so critical that it's okay if their workers die from a disease acquired on the job.
It seems like one of the Trump administration's primary responses to the pandemic is using it as an excuse to cut regulations, like environmental protections -- or in this case, the right to a safe and healthy workplace.
AP News reports "Citing Virus, EPA Has Stopped Enforcing Environmental Laws." CNN says "Trump Administration is Rushing to Gut Environmental Protections."
They're using the pandemic as a Trojan horse to usher in all kinds of environmental and labor deregulation.
The question is: How do we balance what the economy needs to function, the American people's need for food, farmers and ranchers' need for markets, and workers' need for jobs with everyone's -- especially the workers' -- need to slow the spread of the coronavirus to save lives?
Those are the questions a responsible government would be asking. Instead, ours is using it as a power grab to do what they've always wanted to do anyway.
We are at a crossroads
This country and this world are at a monumental crossroads. US voters have an opportunity to beat back the forces of fascism and confront the billionaires who are rigging the economy, our media system, and our democracy, making it increasingly impossible for ordinary people to get by. We’re not just talking about the election. We’re talking about what must be done once these fascist elements are vanquished from power. We need a bolder set of solutions than what either major party has so far been willing to offer and a working-class movement ready to fight like hell for it. Trump didn't emerge from nowhere. The conditions that fueled MAGA authoritarianism were created by decades of radical neoliberal economic policies and a corrupt political system dominated by corporate interests. They slashed taxes on the super-rich, promising that the benefits would trickle down. They said giveaways to the corporate titans would make life more affordable for the rest of us. It was all bullshit. And when a bitter, betrayed populace searches for someone to blame, right-wing demagogues have little trouble finding scapegoats. People know when they're being lied to, but you won't hear any of this from the corporate media. Only independent journalism—powered and funded by people who believe in building a better world—can deliver truly trustworthy daily news. If you share our vision, please contribute whatever you can to sustain our work. |
This column was distributed by OtherWords.
Jill Richardson
Jill Richardson is pursuing a PhD in sociology at UW-Madison, where she studies natural resources and the environment.
Meat processing plants are high risk for spreading COVID-19, and many are shutting down. Animals due for processing have nowhere to go, and they are being culled.
Workers there aren't treated a great deal better.
I've interviewed one meatpacker who worked at a pork plant, years ago. He told me he was recruited with promises of good wages and benefits, but when he got there, those benefits were unattainable.
It seems like one of the Trump administration's primary responses to the pandemic is using it as an excuse to cut regulations, like environmental protections -- or in this case, the right to a safe and healthy workplace.
He described long hours doing repetitive work quickly, and everyone having debilitating repetitive stress injuries. He told me he has a bladder condition and he was not allowed to go to the bathroom, so he wet his pants. Twice. A grown man.
His supervisors then suspected he was drunk, and of course he wasn't.
His story squares with Eric Schlosser's depictions in Fast Food Nation. Meatpacking plants are dangerous, exploitative workplaces that often prey on vulnerable populations like immigrants and people of color. Schlosser shows how meatpacking plants moved to rural areas from the cities and attracted marginalized groups as labor.
Our supply chain relies on meatpacking plants and their workers, and right now working could risk peoples' lives. More than 4,400 workers have the coronavirus and 18 have died.
Yet Donald Trump now plans to order meatpacking plants to stay open and shield them from liability for workers becoming infected with COVID-19 on the job.
I care about the economy a lot -- I'm finishing a PhD and worried about job prospects. But this is essentially saying that meatpacking plants are so critical that it's okay if their workers die from a disease acquired on the job.
It seems like one of the Trump administration's primary responses to the pandemic is using it as an excuse to cut regulations, like environmental protections -- or in this case, the right to a safe and healthy workplace.
AP News reports "Citing Virus, EPA Has Stopped Enforcing Environmental Laws." CNN says "Trump Administration is Rushing to Gut Environmental Protections."
They're using the pandemic as a Trojan horse to usher in all kinds of environmental and labor deregulation.
The question is: How do we balance what the economy needs to function, the American people's need for food, farmers and ranchers' need for markets, and workers' need for jobs with everyone's -- especially the workers' -- need to slow the spread of the coronavirus to save lives?
Those are the questions a responsible government would be asking. Instead, ours is using it as a power grab to do what they've always wanted to do anyway.
Jill Richardson
Jill Richardson is pursuing a PhD in sociology at UW-Madison, where she studies natural resources and the environment.
Meat processing plants are high risk for spreading COVID-19, and many are shutting down. Animals due for processing have nowhere to go, and they are being culled.
Workers there aren't treated a great deal better.
I've interviewed one meatpacker who worked at a pork plant, years ago. He told me he was recruited with promises of good wages and benefits, but when he got there, those benefits were unattainable.
It seems like one of the Trump administration's primary responses to the pandemic is using it as an excuse to cut regulations, like environmental protections -- or in this case, the right to a safe and healthy workplace.
He described long hours doing repetitive work quickly, and everyone having debilitating repetitive stress injuries. He told me he has a bladder condition and he was not allowed to go to the bathroom, so he wet his pants. Twice. A grown man.
His supervisors then suspected he was drunk, and of course he wasn't.
His story squares with Eric Schlosser's depictions in Fast Food Nation. Meatpacking plants are dangerous, exploitative workplaces that often prey on vulnerable populations like immigrants and people of color. Schlosser shows how meatpacking plants moved to rural areas from the cities and attracted marginalized groups as labor.
Our supply chain relies on meatpacking plants and their workers, and right now working could risk peoples' lives. More than 4,400 workers have the coronavirus and 18 have died.
Yet Donald Trump now plans to order meatpacking plants to stay open and shield them from liability for workers becoming infected with COVID-19 on the job.
I care about the economy a lot -- I'm finishing a PhD and worried about job prospects. But this is essentially saying that meatpacking plants are so critical that it's okay if their workers die from a disease acquired on the job.
It seems like one of the Trump administration's primary responses to the pandemic is using it as an excuse to cut regulations, like environmental protections -- or in this case, the right to a safe and healthy workplace.
AP News reports "Citing Virus, EPA Has Stopped Enforcing Environmental Laws." CNN says "Trump Administration is Rushing to Gut Environmental Protections."
They're using the pandemic as a Trojan horse to usher in all kinds of environmental and labor deregulation.
The question is: How do we balance what the economy needs to function, the American people's need for food, farmers and ranchers' need for markets, and workers' need for jobs with everyone's -- especially the workers' -- need to slow the spread of the coronavirus to save lives?
Those are the questions a responsible government would be asking. Instead, ours is using it as a power grab to do what they've always wanted to do anyway.
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