Trump endangers American slaughterhouse workers’ lives

This 28 April 2020 video from the USA says about itself:

Trump Congratulates Himself As U.S. Death Toll Rises | NowThis

Trump can’t stop congratulating himself. 50,000 Americans are dead.

In US news and current events today, Pres. Trump keeps praising himself as COVID-19 deaths rise. The Washington Post analyzed more than 28 hours of briefings and found Trump spent almost 3 hours attacking others or praising himself and less than 5 minutes on condolences for coronavirus victims.

Translated from Dutch NOS radio today:

Trump obliges slaughterhouses to continue working

… President Trump orders that slaughterhouses remain open. To do this, he uses the Defense Production Act, a 1950 law that allows the United States government to decide about the production of businesses in times of crisis.

Several dozen slaughterhouses in the US had already stopped meat processing because of fears of coronavirus contamination among workers. Now that Trump has ordered them to continue working, the corporations are no longer liable for any new workplace illnesses.

Trade unions are angry with the President’s measure and fear for the health of their members. The unions are demanding better protection against the coronavirus for slaughterhouse workers and the ability to test them daily for the virus.

Trump orders meatpacking plants to remain open, as coronavirus sickens thousands of workers. By Christopher Davion and Marcus Day, 29 April 2020. Trump’s executive order is aimed squarely at shielding the profits of Tyson Foods and other corporate firms, not at defending the food supply chain or the safety of workers.

From the BBC today:

An estimated 3,300 US meatpacking workers have been diagnosed with coronavirus and 20 have died. …

Twenty-two US meatpacking plants across the American Midwest have closed during the outbreak.

They include slaughterhouses owned by the nation’s biggest poultry, pork and beef producers, such as Smithfield Foods, Tyson Foods, Cargill and JBS USA.

Like lambs to the slaughter?

Analysis by Jessica Lussenhop, BBC News

The leadership of large meatpacking companies have faced tough questions over whether they did enough to prepare for the pandemic and protect workers.

On top of the fact that production lines necessitate that workers stand very close together, most are low-income, hourly workers.

Many are immigrants living paycheque to paycheque, like the ones at a Sioux Falls, South Dakota, pork plant who told the BBC that despite the risk, they have no choice but to go to work if plants are open.

Without strict adherence to safety guidelines – which are not currently being deemed “mandatory” by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration – it’s not hard to picture new outbreaks at factories, or resurgences of the virus in factories that shuttered but reopen prematurely.

All of this could leave these employees trapped in the same impossible choice they were in when the virus first began spreading in factories in late March: risk my health or lose my job. …

Richard Trumka, the president of the AFL-CIO union [federation], said: “Using executive power to force people back on the job without proper protections is wrong and dangerous.”

This 14 April 20240 video from the USA is called “Terrified to Go to Work”: Hundreds of Workers in Meat & Poultry Plants Test Positive for COVID-19.

Now, a video from before the coronavirus disaster. 5 November 2019.

It says about itself:

Undercover Footage Reveals Conditions of High-Speed Pig Slaughtering | NowThis

This new Trump-approved USDA rule allows meat plants to slaughter pigs as fast as they want, and experts say food safety, animals, and meat industry workers will all suffer.

In US news and current events today, animal rights activists have released this undercover pig slaughterhouse footage that shows the lack of animal welfare and safety standard for workers. The Trump administration’s USDA has allowed for this form of animal cruelty and animal abuse with a new rule that allows high-speed pig slaughtering.

This 29 April 2020 video from the USA is called BREAKING: Pandemic Death Toll Far Higher Than Reported.

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