Elbow to elbow:' North America meat plant workers fall ill, walk off
jobs
Send a link to a friend
[April 13, 2020]
By Tom Polansek and Rod Nickel
CHICAGO/WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - At a
Wayne Farms chicken processing plant in Alabama, workers recently had to
pay the company 10 cents a day to buy masks to protect themselves from
the new coronavirus, according to a meat inspector.
In Colorado, nearly a third of the workers at a JBS USA beef plant
stayed home amid safety concerns for the last two weeks as a 30-year
employee of the facility died following complications from the virus.
And since an Olymel pork plant in Quebec shut on March 29, the number of
workers who tested positive for the coronavirus quintupled to more than
50, according to their union. The facility and at least 10 others in
North America have temporarily closed or reduced production in about the
last two weeks because of the pandemic, disrupting food supply chains
that have struggled to keep pace with surging demand at grocery stores.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2020/Apr/13/images/ads/current/farmers_bank_sda_prom_050614.png)
According to more than a dozen interviews with U.S and Canadian plant
workers, union leaders and industry analysts, a lack of protective
equipment and the nature of "elbow to elbow" work required to debone
chickens, chop beef and slice hams are highlighting risks for employees
and limiting output as some forego the low-paying work. Companies that
added protections, such as enhanced cleaning or spacing out workers, say
the moves are further slowing meat production.
Smithfield Foods, the world’s biggest pork processor, on Sunday said it
is shutting a pork plant indefinitely and warned that plant shutdowns
are pushing the United States “perilously close to the edge” in meat
supplies for grocers.
Lockdowns that aim to stop the spread of the coronavirus have prevented
farmers across the globe from delivering produce to consumers. Millions
of laborers also cannot get to the fields for harvesting and planting,
and there are too few truckers to keep goods moving.
The United States and Canada are among the world's biggest shippers of
beef and pork. Food production has continued as governments try to
ensure adequate supplies, even as they close broad swathes of the
economy.
The closures and increased absenteeism among workers have contributed to
drops in the price of livestock, as farmers find fewer places for
slaughter. Since March 25, nearby lean hog futures <LHc1> have plunged
35%, and live cattle prices <LCc1> shed 15%, straining the U.S. farm
economy.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2020/Apr/13/images/ads/current/farmers_grain_sda_daily_farm_2016.png)
North American meat demand has dropped some 30% in the past month as
declining sales of restaurant meats like steaks and chicken wings
outweighed a spike in retail demand for ground beef, said Christine
McCracken, Rabobank's animal protein analyst.
Frozen meats in U.S. cold storage facilities remain plentiful, but
supply could be whittled down as exports to protein-hungry China
increase after a trade agreement removed obstacles for American meat
purchases.
"There's a huge risk of additional plant closures," McCracken said.
JBS had to reduce beef production at a massive plant in Greeley,
Colorado, as about 800 to 1,000 workers a day stayed home since the end
of March, said Kim Cordova, president of the local United Food and
Commercial Workers (UFCW) union that represents employees.
"There's just not enough people," Cordova said. She added that the union
knew of at least 50 cases and two deaths among employees as of Friday.
Plant worker Saul Sanchez, known affectionately as "grandpa" among some
co-workers, tested positive for the virus and died on April 7 at 78
years old, according to his daughter, Beatriz Rangel. She said he only
went from home to work before developing symptoms, including a low
fever.
"I'm heartbroken because my dad was so loyal," Rangel said.
[to top of second column]
|
![](../images/041320pics/news_n31.jpg)
Employees wear face masks at the JBS USA meat packing plant, where
two members of the staff have died of coronavirus disease
(COVID-19), as it remains operational in Greeley, Colorado, U.S.
April 8, 2020. REUTERS/Jim Urquhart
![](../images/ads/current/fitzpatrick_lda_SPONSOR_2017.png)
Brazilian owned JBS confirmed an employee with three decades of
experience died from complications associated with COVID-19, without
naming Sanchez. The company said he had not been at work since March
20, the same day JBS removed people older than 70 from its
facilities as a precaution. He was never symptomatic while at work
and never worked in the facility while sick, according to the
company.
JBS said it was working with federal and state governments to obtain
tests for all plant employees.
Weld County, where the plant is located, had the fourth highest
number of COVID-19 cases of any county in Colorado on Friday,
according to the state. Health officials confirmed cases among JBS
workers.
JBS said high absenteeism at the plant led slaughter rates to
outpace the process of cutting carcasses into pieces of beef. The
company disputed the union's numbers on worker absences but did not
provide its own. It took steps including buying masks and putting up
plexiglass shields in lunch rooms to protect employees, said Cameron
Bruett, spokesman for JBS USA.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2020/Apr/13/images/ads/current/chicagost_sda_SFARM_2020.png)
"MY LIFE IS IN JEOPARDY"
At Wayne Farms' chicken plant in Decatur, Alabama, some workers are
upset the company recently made employees pay for masks, said Mona
Darby, who inspects chicken breasts there and is a local leader of
hundreds of poultry workers for the Retail, Wholesale and Department
Store Union.
"My life is in jeopardy because we're working elbow to elbow," she
said.
Wayne Farms, with annual sales exceeding $2 billion, is trying to
obtain masks to distribute to employees, though supplies are
limited, spokesman Frank Singleton said. He said he did not know of
any instances where employees were charged for masks.
Workers at a Tyson Foods Inc <TSN.N> chicken plant in Shelbyville,
Tennessee, bought their own masks when the facility ran out, said
Kim Hickerson, who loads chicken on trucks there and is a union
leader. Some are talking about quitting because they are scared of
getting sick, he said.
"I just put it in God's hands," he said.
Tyson, the top U.S. meat producer, is working to find more personal
protective equipment for employees, spokesman Worth Sparkman said.
The company increased cleaning at facilities and sought to space out
employees, which can both slow production, according to a statement.
Workers have lost their trust in Olymel after an outbreak of the
coronavirus closed a plant in Yamachiche, Quebec, according to union
spokeswoman Anouk Collet. "They do not feel that the company took
all the measures they could have taken to keep them safe," she said.
Company spokesman Richard Vigneault said the plant will reopen on
Tuesday with new measures in place, such as separating panels, masks
and visors.
Marc Perrone, international president of the UFCW union, said meat
plant workers are increasingly weighing concerns about their own
safety and their responsibility to produce food.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2020/Apr/13/images/ads/current/ldn_more4_121715.png)
"If we don't take care of the food supply, the American people are
going to panic," he said.
(Reporting by Tom Polansek in Chicago and Rod Nickel in Winnipeg,
Manitoba; Editing by Caroline Stauffer and Edward Tobin)
[© 2020 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2020 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |