Meat processing plants have been ordered to stay open during the pandemic. For workers, the coronavirus complicates an already dangerous job.
New protective barriers between Tyson Foods workers at the company's Springdale, Arkansas plant on April 24, 2020.Workers at meat industry giants, including Smithfield Foods and Tyson Foods, have tested positive for the coronavirus.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on April 28 demanding that meat processing plants stay open amid the pandemic to protect the nation's food supply chain.Kulule Amosa told the Associated Press that her husband earns $17.70 an hour at a South Dakota pork plant doing a job so physically demanding it can only be performed in 30-minute increments. After each shift in the second week of April, he left exhausted as usual — but he didn't want to go home.
New protective barriers between Tyson Foods workers at the company's Springdale, Arkansas plant on April 24, 2020.As many as half a dozen plants shut in mid-April because of outbreaks. Smithfield CEO Kenneth Sullivan said the closure of the plant, which produces roughly 5% of the U.S.
But amid the coronavirus pandemic, the couple found themselves — like many workers whose jobs cannot be done remotely — exposed on two fronts: Both their health and their livelihoods were at risk. The couple agreed to speak to The Associated Press on the condition that Amosa's husband not be named because he feared losing his job.
Union leaders and immigrant advocates cheered the decision to close the plant indefinitely but wish more had been done sooner.
Canada Latest News, Canada Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Workers Scared As Trump Orders Meat Plants To Open During Coronavirus CrisisThe president invoked the Defense Production Act after more than a dozen beef, pork and poultry plants across the country shut down either temporarily or indefinitely in the past few weeks.
Read more »
CDC says 3% of workers in surveyed meat processing plants have tested positive for coronavirusThe physically tolling conditions of labor inside the plants makes it difficult for workers to wear masks, the researchers said, adding that some of the surveyed plants have struggled to implement heightened disinfecting protocols.
Read more »
Trump push to keep meatpacking plants open comes as pork producers profit from China trade dealTrump's requirement that meatpacking plants stay open during the coronavirus pandemic raises questions about America's massive meat exports, especially to China.
Read more »
The coronavirus has cost Americans 34 million jobs since mid-March - Business InsiderReported unemployment claims suggest more than 30 million job losses since mid-March, but a VCU/ASU survey finds 34 million jobs were wiped out.
Read more »
'Pack up for next year': Covid-19 brings India's Bollywood to grinding haltIndia's film industry will take at least two years to recover financially from coronavirus pandemic, putting at risk tens of thousands of jobs, industry experts and insiders say.
Read more »
As meat plant infections rise, Canada lets packers choose when to closeIn Cargill Inc's High River, Alberta plant, supplier of more than one-third of Canada's beef, 391 workers were sick with coronavirus when the company suspended operations, according to provincial health officials.
Read more »