One more reason to become a vegetarian

We learned early-on in the pandemic that some groups were being hit worse than others. One of the hardest hit was those who worked in meat processing plans. Many who labor at this gruesome, difficult and poorly-paid work are POC - another group disproportionately impacted by COVID. For meat processing workers, then, a double whammy.

During last spring's pandemic rager, we heard all about this. And how the plants weren't responding all that well in terms of protecting their vulnerable workers. And how the meat-packing industry was declared essential because, of course, we need to keep bringing home the bacon.

What we didn't know was just how terribly the workers were being treated - not just when it came to important matters like PPE, safety in the work environment, spread protection, contact tracing, medical care (most of these issues we were well aware of) - when it came to the small stuff. Stuff that's not (really) illegal, stuff that can't (really) be regulated, but stuff that makes the workplace a nastier place to be. 

Thus we learned that at one Tyson Foods plant, which ordered its employees to come in to work even when there were heightened concerns for their safety, "supervisors privately wagered money on the number of workers who would be sickened by the deadly virus."

All this has come out through a lawsuit the family of a Tyson worker who died in April has filed against the company, alleging "willful and wanton disregard for workplace safety."

Isidro Fernandez is one of five workers (I've also seen the number six) at Tyson's Waterloo, Iowa plant who died from COVID. Out of a workforce of nearly 3,000 more than one-third came down with COVID. 

The lawsuit alleges that despite the uncontrolled spread of the virus at the plant, Tyson required its employees to work long hours in cramped conditions without providing the appropriate personal protective equipment and without ensuring workplace-safety measures were followed.

The lawsuit was recently amended and includes a number of new allegations against the company and plant officials. Among them:

In mid-April, around the time Black Hawk County Sherriff Tony Thompson visited the plant and reported the working conditions there “shook [him] to the core,” plant manager Tom Hart organized a cash-buy-in, winner-take-all, betting pool for supervisors and managers to wager how many plant employees would test positive for COVID-19.

John Casey, an upper-level manager at the plant, is alleged to have explicitly directed supervisors to ignore symptoms of COVID-19, telling them to show up to work even if they were exhibiting symptoms of the virus. Casey reportedly referred to COVID-19 as the “glorified flu” and told workers not to worry about it because “it’s not a big deal” and “everyone is going to get it.” On one occasion, Casey intercepted a sick supervisor who was on his way to be tested and ordered him to get back to work, saying, “We all have symptoms — you have a job to do.” After one employee vomited on the production line, managers reportedly allowed the man to continue working and then return to work the next day.

In late March or early April, as the pandemic spread across Iowa, managers at the Waterloo plant reportedly began avoiding the plant floor for fear of contracting the virus. As a result, they increasingly delegated managerial authority and responsibilities to low-level supervisors who had no management training or experience. The supervisors did not require truck drivers and subcontractors to have their temperatures checked before entering the plant. 

In March and April, plant supervisors falsely denied the existence of any confirmed cases or positive tests for COVID-19 within the plant, and allegedly told workers they had a responsibility to keep working to ensure Americans didn’t go hungry as the result of a shutdown.(Source: Iowa Capital Dispatch)

Where to begin on this. As noted, we knew about lax working conditions and worker exploitation. But having the managers and supervisors betting on how many workers would get sick? 

I'm all for betting pools at work. Super Bowl. March Madness. Due date for someone's baby. And I'm not against dark humor, either. Who hasn't at least considered throwing in on a celebrity death pool, guessing which famous person is up next? During the dot com era, Fucked Company, a website that was something of a gossip mill for dot.com natives, had a death pool on which companies would fold next. I was a regular visitor to Fucked Company, as my employer at the time (late 1990's - early oughts), Genuity, was a regular on their pages. 

But betting on the casualties in your own company? Sure, there's an element of whistling past the graveyard here, but there's something completely disgraceful about managers and supervisors betting on (against?) their underlings, who were dying. And they knew it. Why else were the more senior managers starting to avoid being on the plant floor? They knew. 

There is, of course, more. (When it comes to bad business behavior, there's always more.) 

Tyson put together a bonus plan, rewarding employees who had perfect attendance for three months with $500. Maybe $500 extra wouldn't incent you to risk your life, but for some poor, ill-paid immigrant scrabbling to hold family together here while sending a pittance remittance home, it would seem like a fortune. Enough to encourage someone sick but not that sick to keep punching in. 

Tyson execs also got in the act by lobbying Iowa's governor for liability protection against law suits, and to get her to put in place a policy that gave only the state - and not local authorities - the right to close down a business due to COVID. 

Needless to say, Tyson has a different interpretation of events. They were working within the appropriate guidelines...doing everything they could...just trying to keep feeding their fellow Americans...responding to the demands of the President to keep meat packing plants in operation. (I did read that Tyson has suspended the managers who ran the betting pool.)

I always associate Tyson with chicken (a brand I don't buy), but they pack a lot of pork, too. Their Waterloo Iowa plant processes "approximately 19,500 hogs per day."

There's bacon in my freezer. And pancetta (Italian bacon for spaghetti carbonara). And I've been craving sausages and peppers. But when you think about how Tyson's been treating its employees, well, it's one more reason to at least consider becoming a vegetarian.