Meatpacking industry has a history of dangerous practices, writes food systems labor exper - Entrepreneur Generations

Meatpacking plants are increasingly covid-19 hotspots, with more than 10,000 cases and at least 45 deaths nationwide linked to processing plant outbreaks, report Sky Chadde for the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting and Kyle Bagenstose for USA Today. Michael Haedicke, an expert on food system labor issues, says poor working conditions and weak labor laws are the root of the problem, though others have tried to blame the spread on immigrant plant workers' home lives.

After Smithfield Foods was forced to shutter its huge Sioux Falls pork processing plant in mid-April, a spokesperson referred to the plant's "large immigrant population" and said "living circumstances in certain cultures are different than they are with your traditional American family," Buzzfeed News reports. Similarly, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said on an April 28 call with lawmakers that he believed meatpacking plant infections "were linked more to the 'home and social' aspects of workers' lives rather than the conditions inside the facilities," Politico reports.

Haedicke, an associate sociology professor at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, says the workers are not to blame. There are two reasons the novel coronavirus is spreading so rapidly in meatpacking plants, he writes for The Conversation: "First, working conditions experienced in meatpacking plants, which are shaped by the pressures of efficient production, contribute to the spread of covid-19. Second, this industry has evolved since the mid-20th century in ways that make it hard for workers to advocate for safe conditions even in good times, let alone during a pandemic."

Those reasons—which he explains in detail—not only show why meatpacking plants are infection hotbeds right now, but also why the problem will be difficult to fix, Haedicke writes.

Meanwhile, on April 28 President Trump attempted to forestall meat shortages by declaring the plants "critical infrastructure," which could compel the facilities to remain open. But that didn't work: at least seven plants have shut down since then. "In all, at least 38 meatpacking plants have ceased operations at some point since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. All closed for at least a day. Some have stayed closed for weeks. At least two of the seven plants that closed since the executive order have reopened," Chadde and Bagenstose report.

from The Rural Blog https://ift.tt/2SPSZnP Meatpacking industry has a history of dangerous practices, writes food systems labor exper - Entrepreneur Generations

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