Missouri Pork Plant Workers Say They Can't Cover Mouths to Cough

NYT via Yahoo ^ | April 24th, 2020 | Noam Scheiber and Michael Corkery

[Mariner]

Workers at a Smithfield Foods pork plant in Milan, Missouri, say that for years they have endured repetitive stress injuries on the meat processing line — and urinary tract infections because they had so few bathroom breaks.

But as the coronavirus pandemic has emerged, workers say they have encountered another health complication: reluctance to cover their mouths while coughing or to clean their faces after sneezing because this can cause them to miss a piece of meat as it goes by, creating a risk of disciplinary action.

The claims appear in a complaint filed Thursday in federal court by an anonymous Smithfield worker and the Rural Community Workers Alliance, a local advocacy group whose leadership council includes several other Smithfield workers.

The complaint also seeks to test a novel legal question: whether health hazards at the plant present a public nuisance.

Coronavirus infections have emerged as a significant problem at meatpacking plants around the country, with some closing and many others operating well below capacity. At least 10 workers in meatpacking and three workers in food processing have died of COVID-19, leaders of the United Food and Commercial Workers union said Thursday. About 6,500 employees either have contracted the virus, missed work because they had to self-quarantine or are waiting for tests or show symptoms, they said.

[Mariner]

"The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which toured the South Dakota facility last week, recommended Thursday that Smithfield establish more social distancing barriers and possibly slow down the production line there to create more space between workers."

Next time send ICE and the complaints will stop.

[Lurker]

“Next time send ICE and the complaints will stop.”

A fine plan.

L

[simpson96]

Cook that Smithfield meat REAL GOOD.

[txrefugee]

Gag. It’s a miracle we are still alive. Find a small rural butcher shop if you can, with no third world help.

[Berlin_Freeper]

I hope everyone understands there is no fool-proof way against catching coronavirus.
I was on a bus today and a woman coughing and sneezing lowered her face mask to blow her nose in a tissue and continued cough and sneezing while doing so. She left with her face mask down at the next stop 3 minutes later. Honest to God.

[SmokingJoe]

So what do the grocery store workers, the liquor store workers, the weed store workers and the lottery ticket workers (all of which have been kept open by these dictatorial Dem governors like Whitmer do when they cough then?

[Monty22002]

The Jungle still lives.

[Zhang Fei]

[I hope everyone understands there is no fool-proof way against catching coronavirus.

I was on a bus today and a woman coughing and sneezing lowered her face mask to blow her nose in a tissue and continued cough and sneezing while doing so. She left with her face mask down at the next stop 3 minutes later. Honest to God. ]

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There is a way to do so while in transit. Driving.

[Berlin_Freeper]

What about the guy begging for change at the red light and breathing/sneezing on your door?

[Balding_Eagle]

Find a small rural butcher shop if you can, with no third world help.

If you used all of those kinds of butchers, each and every one, how many hogs would you kill a day?

How many people would you feed?

[Starcitizen]

Hope you won’t actually eat that Communist Chinese crap

[Zhang Fei]

[What about the guy begging for change at the red light and breathing/sneezing on your door?]

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You get that in Berlin? In Adolf’s time, they would have been put to productive work. Arbeit macht frei, and all that. Anyway, just say no.

[Berlin_Freeper]

You get that in Berlin? In Adolf’s time, they would have been put to productive work. Arbeit macht frei, and all that. Anyway, just say no.

Probably a lot less than in Zhang Fei land were coronavirus started. You know, wet markets and mass consumption of bats, rats, cats and dogs....

[SmokingJoe]

Did you see the picture of Adam Schiff in the face mask? The mask was around his neck wth his mouth and nose totally uncovered.

[Berlin_Freeper]

And Biden.

[VanDeKoik]

There isnt a fool-proof way against catching anything.

But a dumb person does nothing to spite perfection.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

Yep. And Sinclair’s books till drips with socialism.

[Gulf War One]

That’s what the masks are for! Not rocket science.

[wetgundog]

This a ChiCom owned plant in the good old USA, Folks.

[Zhang Fei]

[Probably a lot less than in Zhang Fei land were coronavirus started. You know, wet markets and mass consumption of bats, rats, cats and dogs.... ]

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I like the Adolf solution for Zhang Fei land. Problem is generating the massive amounts of Zyklon B needed. Just to clear out the bats, you understand ...