The U.S. House of Representatives’ Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis is launching an investigation into coronavirus outbreaks at meat and poultry plants nationwide.
Rep. James E. Clyburn, chairman of the subcommittee, sent letters to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Tyson Foods, Smithfield Foods and JBS USA, related to the upcoming investigation.
"Public reports indicate that under the Trump Administration, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) failed to adequately carry out its responsibility for enforcing worker safety laws at meatpacking plants across the country, resulting in preventable infections and deaths," Clyburn, D-South Carolina, wrote to OSHA. "It is imperative that the previous administration's shortcomings are swiftly identified and rectified to save lives in the months before coronavirus vaccinations are available for all Americans."
The select subcommittee’s investigation follows reports that nearly 54,000 workers at 569 meatpacking plants in the United States have tested positive for the coronavirus, and at least 270 have died, the subcommittee stated in a press release. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has identified meatpacking plants as a source for “rapid transmission” of the coronavirus. More than two-thirds of employees at meatpacking plants are Black or Hispanic, and almost half of employees live in low-income families, the subcommittee further stated.
Since the pandemic began, OSHA issued only eight citations and less than $80,000 in total penalties for coronavirus-related violations at meatpacking companies, Clyburn stated, adding that those penalties were insufficient. For example, Clyburn stated, OSHA found that 1,294 workers at a Smithfield Foods plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, contracted the coronavirus, and four died. Yet the agency fined Smithfield Foods, $13,494, which amounts to less than $11 per employee infected with the virus.
“[I]n the last year, OSHA failed to issue enforceable rules, respond in a timely manner to complaints, and issue meaningful fines when a company’s unsafe practices led to the deaths of employees,” Clyburn continued.
Clyburn also sent letters to Smithfield, Tyson Foods and JBS USA, which he said had a combined total of at least 41 major outbreaks in meatpacking facilities in 20 states, including multiple outbreaks in the same facilities.
According to the press release from the subcommittee:
- JBS USA had at least 3,000 employees contract the coronavirus, of which, 18 died.
- Tyson Foods saw more than 12,000 workers contract the coronavirus and 38 die from it. Managers at one Tyson plant allegedly placed bets on how many would contract the virus, but those managers were later terminated from the company.
- Smithfield Foods had over 3,500 workers contract the coronavirus and eight employees die.
Clyburn wrote to these companies: “Public reports indicate that meatpacking companies … have refused to take basic precautions to protect their workers, many of whom earn extremely low wages and lack adequate paid leave, and have shown a callous disregard for workers’ health. These actions appear to have resulted in thousands of meatpacking workers getting infected with the virus and hundreds dying. Outbreaks at meatpacking plants have also spread to surrounding communities, killing many more Americans.”
The subcommittee is seeking documents from OSHA and from each company related to coronavirus infections and deaths at meatpacking plants and the enforcement of worker protections by the Trump Administration.
View our continuing coverage of the coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic.
