The meat sector appreciates the executive order; labor groups oppose it
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
Meat processing plants around the country will remain open during the coronavirus outbreak.
The president signed an executive order Tuesday under the Defense Production Act (DPA) to highlight the importance of the processing facilities as the pandemic continues.
President Harry Truman signed the DPA in 1950 after the Korean War to give the federal government more control during emergencies to manage industrial production.
Allowing processing facilities to close could result in Americans going hungry.
“Given the high volume of meat and poultry processed by many facilities, any unnecessary closures can quickly have a large effect on the food supply chain,” the executive order says. “For example, closure of a single large beef processing facility can result in the loss of over 10 million individual servings of beef in a single day.”
Prior to the April 28 executive order, some processing facilities across the U.S. had closed because of the ongoing pandemic and outbreaks within their locations.
A Smithfield Foods plant in Sioux Falls, S.D., a JBS facility in Worthington, Minn. and a Tyson Foods operation in Waterloo, Iowa all suspended operations. Those three facilities make up for about 15 per cent of total U.S. pork production.
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue supported the president’s executive order.
“I thank President Trump for signing this executive order and recognizing the importance of keeping our food supply chain safe, secure and plentiful,” he said in a statement. “Our nation’s meat and poultry processing facilities play an integral role in the continuity of our food supply chain.”
Representatives from the U.S. ag industry also appreciate the president’s actions.
Keeping these facilities operational will have a positive effect on the country, said Julie Anna Potts, CEO of the North American Meat Institute.
“By keeping meat and poultry producers operating, the president’s executive order will help avert hardship for agricultural producers and keep safe, affordable food on the tables of American families,” she said in a statement Tuesday.
Some sectors of the U.S. ag industry, however, warn that livestock producers may be forced to make difficult decisions.
“While getting pork packing plants back online is foundational, the tragic reality is that millions of hogs can’t enter the food supply,” Howard Roth, president of the National Pork Producers Council, said in a statement on Tuesday. “We need coordinated partnership between the industry and federal, state and local authorities to euthanize pigs in an orderly, ethical and safe way.”
In addition to the reopening the plants, President Trump’s executive order directs the Department of Labor to work on liability protections.
No details of what those protections might look like have been released. But labor groups oppose sending employees back to work if conditions aren’t safe.
At least 20 meatpacking workers have died from the coronavirus and more than 5,000 have either been hospitalized or are showing symptoms, the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) estimates.
Having safe workers and safe working environments are paramount to a safe food supply.
“While we share the concern over the food supply, (Tuesday’s) executive order to force meatpacking plants to stay open must put the safety of our country’s meatpacking workers first,” Marc Perrone, president of UFCW, said in a statement. “Simply put, we cannot have a secure food supply without the safety of these workers.”
UFCW is asking the administration to enact clear safety standards mandating meat processing plants provide personal protective equipment, enforce physical distancing and ensure daily testing is available for employees.
Some meat processing employees are unsure if they or their coworkers will even show up for any shifts.
“All I know is, this is crazy to me, because I can’t see all those people going back into work,” an employee named Donald from Tyson’s Waterloo, Iowa plant who tested positive for COVID-19, told CNN. “I don’t think people are going to go back in there.”
President Trump mentions the executive order around 16:50 of the video.