The meatpacking industry has a long history of abusive treatment of workers​, animals, and the environment, and their current failure to protect employees from COVID-19 has now our entire country at risk. Despite knowing about the novel coronavirus pandemic in early 2020, major meatpacking companies like Tyson Foods, Smithfield, and JBS failed to take many minimal precautions until mid- to late April, when it was already too late. As of May 15, 14,271 cases of COVID-19 and 59 employee deaths were directly linked to these companies, and this number doesn't even include family members of workers who died because of relatives' exposure at the meatpacking plants.

These meatpacking companies' numerous failures to protect employees and public health include:

• Not providing adequate masks, and in some cases providing fishnets instead
• Requiring employees to work shoulder-to-shoulder without any barriers between them
• Not implementing social distancing measures
• Increasing line speeds to rates where employees are unable to even cover their mouths when they sneeze without risking penalties
• Resistance to testing, even when it was being offered by the state
• Not informing employees about plant outbreaks or positive tests in co-workers
• Keeping testing information from the public
• Incentivizing workers to work when sick
• Threatening workers who don't show up with being fired
• Telling employees not to speak to the media
• Providing information only in English in plants with many non-English speaking employees

Not only have these failures resulted in the deaths of many employees and family members, but they are driving COVID-19 outbreaks in many parts of the country. A recent study by the Environmental Working Group found that counties that contain meatpacking plants have twice the national average of COVID-19 infections.  An animation using cell phone data has shown how an outbreak at one plant can spread across all of North America.

What's more, the decision to keep the plants open is based on a lie.  Smithfield put out a press release claiming that the "one reason" they were keeping plants open was to "protect the nation's food supply." But after being asked by the Associated Press why they were continuing to export if they were worried about the American food supply, the company responded by saying, "the free market determines what products it exports."

Despite this egregious behavior, some Republicans are actually trying to protect meatpacking plants from legal liability! President Trump said his executive order on April 28 was designed to protect the companies from liability, but it won't protect them from their failures before that date, which are the ones responsible for most of the current deaths and positive cases. And now Missouri Representative Vicky Hartzler has introduced a bill that would shield the companies from liability, while Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has indicated that liability protection is one of his top priorities for any new rescue bills related to COVID-19.

We can't allow this to happen! Our elected representatives in Congress and the Senate need to know that carelessly sacrificing workers to make a profit, and failing to implement even the most minimal reforms until being called out by the media can not be rewarded.  There should be no liability protection for the companies that put their employees, and all of America, at risk through their irresponsible behavior.

Note: I'm not interested in ownership, only in winning on this important issue.  Any groups or individuals are welcome to copy or use similar language to help put pressure on representatives, and I'm also happy to list co-sponsoring organizations if anyone is interested.