{"id":3303,"date":"2021-10-28T09:40:59","date_gmt":"2021-10-28T13:40:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.presbyterianmission.org\/food-faith\/?p=3303"},"modified":"2021-10-28T09:41:25","modified_gmt":"2021-10-28T13:41:25","slug":"workerdeaths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/2021\/10\/28\/workerdeaths\/","title":{"rendered":"Covid-19 cases, deaths among meatpacking workers three times worse than thought"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"meatpacking\u201cOur investigation found that the Trump administration\u2019s response to the outbreaks in meatpacking plants was wholly insufficient,\u201d said Rep. James Clyburn, chairman of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Five large meatpackers reneged on their duty to protect their workers during the pandemic and roughly three times as many deaths and infections from Covid-19 ocurred among employees. Recent reporting showed at least 269 deaths and at least 59,000 infections.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe meat industry decided to thumb their noses\u201d at federal recommendations such as social distancing at work. More meatpacking workers died of Covid-19 in 18 months than died of work-related causes in the preceding 15 years,” said Debbie Berkowitz, a senior fellow at the National Employment Law Project.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The numbers of infections and deaths of these so-called “essential workers” is a travesty. While we depend on these workers, a majority of whom are people of color, our treatment of them is a sad reminder of what happens when expediency and profits drive practice.<\/p>\n

FERN Ag Insider<\/a> has followed this issue closely and their Covid-19 Mapping Project<\/a>, which relied on public reports of outbreaks, may be the best independent source of the coronavirus\u2019 impact among meat workers. But the numbers reported Wednesday by\u00a0 five large meatpackers were about three times higher than the numbers compiled by FERN.<\/p>\n

To read the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis report, click here<\/a>. To watch a video of the hearing, click here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Read the full article from FERN here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Read more…<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

1)\u00a0 Slaughterhouse: Meat processing workers risk Covid-19 infection<\/strong><\/a> from Food & Faith Blog<\/p>\n

2)\u00a0 Meat Plant Closings Show Fragility of \u201cGet Big\u201d System, Say Midwest Family Farm Groups<\/strong><\/a>
\nThe groups called for government pandemic response programs to:<\/p>\n