◼ REMARKS
companies to say ‘we’re just following orders,’ ” says
The Human
Cost of
Cheap Meat
● Working in a processing plant
has always been dangerous.
With Covid-19, it’s even scarier
● By Peter Coy
It looks like bad times for Big Meat. The meat processing
industry was slow to recognize the danger of Covid-19:
Workers continued to work elbow-to-elbow and with-
out masks long after other Americans took precautions.
6 Outbreaks of the disease among employees have now forced
the shutdown or slowdown of dozens of plants that produce
beef, pork, and chicken. Tyson Foods Inc. Chairman John
Tyson has placed full-page ads saying “the food supply chain
is breaking.” The world is dismayed by scenes of farmers euth-
anizing hogs and chickens that can’t be sold—even as meat
prices are leaping and supermarket shelves are emptying.
But it’s not all bad for Tyson and the other companies
that dominate U.S. meat production, including Cargill,
Brazilian-owned JBS USA Holdings, and China’s WH Group,
owner of Smithfield Foods. The profits from the plants that
continue to operate at full capacity have soared: Spot prices
for beef and pork are way up because the supply is tight,
while the price the plants pay for animals is down because
the processors can’t handle all of them.
Meanwhile, President Trump’s invocation of the Defense
Production Act to ensure no disruption in the U.S. meat supply
effectively gives producers the government’s support in any
lawsuits over workers’ exposure to the coronavirus, as long
as the companies follow safety standards prescribed by gov-
ernment agencies. On April 28, Trump directed Agriculture
Secretary Sonny Perdue to “ensure that meat and poultry pro-
cessors continue operations consistent with the guidance for
their operations jointly issued by the CDC and OSHA”—that
is, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the
Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Labor unions and public-health advocates have accused
Tyson and others of putting profit ahead of worker safety
by keeping plants operating despite Covid-19 infections.
But with Trump citing national security, “it’s easier for
Jennifer Bartashus, a senior industry analyst at Bloomberg
Intelligence. “It is a really good time for those that can oper-
ate, even if they’re not operating at full capacity.”
The whole world is feeling the effects of the pandemic on
the food supply. In India, starvation looms because a nation-
wide 40-day lockdown to stop the virus has deprived the
poor of money to buy food. A program of free food, fuel, and
cash transfers for the poor amounting to less than 1% of the
country’s gross domestic product has proved insufficient. In
Nigeria, stay-at-home orders from state governments have
sparked panic buying. In Brazil, coffee growers worry they
can’t keep their employees safe, and, in Honduras, a fruit
export giant has been accused of downplaying the risks.
Adding to the pressure, Kazakhstan, Russia, Vietnam, and
other countries are moving to secure domestic supply by
restricting exports that the world depends on.
The common thread around the world is that agricul-
tural and food-processing workers aren’t treated like the
essential workers they really are. They earn low pay and
have crowded, dangerous working conditions. In wealthy
nations, many of them are undocumented immigrants who
are afraid to complain. Companies take advantage of that.
“Because these giant multinational corporations didn’t make
the investment to protect workers, their plants are being
forced to close,” says David Michaels, a George Washington
University public health professor who ran OSHA under
President Obama.
To keep its production lines moving amid the spreading
pandemic, Tyson Foods is offering a $500 bonus in May and
another $500 in July to workers who maintain good atten-
dance. People are still eligible for the attendance bonuses
if they stay home because they have Covid-19, but some
workers who aren’t sure they’re sick enough to qualify may
decide to come to work anyway. Tyson spokesman Gary
Mickelson said on April 29 that the company has made its
relaxed attendance policy clear to employees. He also said
the company is checking workers’ temperatures daily and
taking other precautions, including placing clear plastic par-
titions between workers where it’s not possible for them
to stand 6 feet apart. It began requiring workers to wear
masks on April 15.
It’s no wonder that some meatpacking plants have
become centers of infection in states like Iowa and Nebraska
that have otherwise been lightly touched by the coronavirus.
Social distancing is impossible when production lines are
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY 731; PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES
running at full speed. It takes a full complement of workers
side by side to handle all the meat. It’s so noisy that work-
ers, supervisors, and USDA inspectors have to shout into
each other’s ears to be heard. The obvious solution is to slow
down the lines and put workers farther apart, but that hurts
profitability and reduces supply for groceries.
Some food processors are treating any Covid-19-related
slowdown as more of a speed bump than a reason to per-
manently change how they operate. They’re continuing