Trump will order U.S. meat processing plants to stay open amid coronavirus fears

reuteurs ^ | APRIL 28, 2020 | Jeff Mason

[RomanSoldier19]

President Donald Trump plans to order U.S. meat processing plants facing concerns about coronavirus outbreaks to stay open to protect the country’s food supply, a senior administration official said on Tuesday.

Trump is likely to sign an executive order later in the day using the Defense Production Act to mandate that the plants continue to function, the official said.

The order is designed to give companies such as Tyson Foods Inc and others more liability protection in case employees catch the virus as a result of having to go to work.

The order will also include guidance to minimize risk to workers who are especially vulnerable to the virus, the official said.

[mewzilla]

Have you seen how wrapped up workers are in those places are? In any case, everybody’s talking about the plants. The plants are a no-brainer. They need to look at living conditions and transpo, too. Why fight half a battle,

[RedStateRocker]

Hell, anything from one of the big factory producers I’m going to cook to a safe temperature anyway.

[DoodleDawg]

In any case, everybody’s talking about the plants. The plants are a no-brainer.

That is the easy part. Open them up and cross your fingers.

They need to look at living conditions and transpo, too.

And do what about them?

[shanover]

Got into a big shoving match with a FReeper Karen yesterday over whether Trump could do this.

Funniest thing I read all day besides,"Biden endorses Clinton for President".

[mewzilla]

Call La Migra...?

[Cboldt]

-- Why is it a political mistake to prevent food supply disruption? --

It depends on the size of the disruption.

Back in the day, it was politically popular to pay farmers to not grow crops.

Maybe I'm wrong, and it is politically poplular for the government to commandeer manufacturing and processing sectors of the economy. Factory by factory. Trumn attempted to seize control of the steel mills during the Korean War.

[DoodleDawg]

Call La Migra...?

You're not going to have them open long if your work force has headed for the hills.

[mewzilla]

This isn’t rocket science. From 2009...

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/03/19/Study-Wages-rose-after-immigration-raids/85951237464719/?ur3=1

[McGruff]

Tyson Foods sells U.S. pork to China, but misses quarterly sales expectations

Published Thu, Feb 6 20201:42 PM EST

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/06/reuters-america-update-3-tyson-foods-sells-u-s-pork-to-china-but-misses-quarterly-sales-expectations.html

Tyson Foods could become the biggest winner from the US-China trade deal

Published Thu, Jan 9 20206:20 PM EST

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/09/jim-cramer-tyson-foods-may-be-the-biggest-us-china-trade-deal-winner.html

[Buckeye McFrog]

Yes I know what a Karen is under the current context.
I introduced it to this thread actually.

Thanks for spoiling a warm pubescent memory. ;)

[Buckeye McFrog]

Karens in school girl uniforms. Was she a redhead too?

No, the redhead was Joyce

[Robert DeLong]

So now they are going to have to. Though profit wasn’t what this was all about, it was the virus. So what’s your beef then? According to you he didn’t need to make them keep the food chain going. His EO just ensures that the food supply chain does stay intact.

[Robert DeLong]

Oh yeah, okay thanks. 8>)

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

You're wrong on both counts. Meat processing requires a lot of skilled trades — even in normal times, there are shortages of qualified workers.

Troops are also skilled trades and not easily replaced. This situation could last for months. What effect would diverting thousands of troops have on preparedness? What would widespread infections do for preparedness. Longer term, how would misusing troops affect recruitment?

[WildHighlander57]

(h/t eyesoftx) https://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3839767/posts?page=1#1 On Tuesday afternoon, President Trump made a crucial move to protect the nation’s food supply chain. Faced with the closings of a number of food processing plants around the country – some of the largest of which, under the Smithfield name, are owned by Chinese interests – the President invoked the Defense Production Act to order food processing plants to remain up and running in order to ensure the nation’s supermarket shelves remain stocked with meats and other food. Jennifer Jacobs ✔ @JenniferJJacobs · 2h BREAKING: Trump plans to order meat processing plants to STAY OPEN, declaring them critical infrastructure under Defense Production Act. Order meant to stave off shortage of beef, chicken, eggs, pork. Plant closures could have shut down as much as 80% of capacity, source says. Jennifer Jacobs ✔ @JenniferJJacobs BREAKING NEWS: Trump executive order will mandate various meat/egg processing plants stay open. Trump had signaled in Oval minutes ago he'd sign an EO today aimed at Tyson Foods's liability. The order, though, will not be limited to Tyson, I'm told.https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-28/trump-says-he-s-issuing-order-for-tyson-s-unique-liability?utm_content=politics&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&cmpid%3D=socialflow-twitter-politics … Trump Says He’s Issuing Order for Tyson’s ‘Unique’ Liability President Donald Trump said he’s issuing an executive order aimed at Tyson Foods Inc.’s liability amid reports of coronavirus outbreaks at meat-processing plants that are disrupting the food supply... bloomberg.com 1,284 12:17 PM - Apr 28, 2020 Twitter Ads info and privacy 1,289 people are talking about this Naturally, the Twitter perpetual outrage mob that has been actively praying for people to start going hungry so that we will have rioting in our streets immediately knee-jerked to idiotic reasoning such as this from the mentally-impaired Jennifer Rubin: Jennifer Jacobs ✔ @JenniferJJacobs · 2h BREAKING: Trump plans to order meat processing plants to STAY OPEN, declaring them critical infrastructure under Defense Production Act. Order meant to stave off shortage of beef, chicken, eggs, pork. Plant closures could have shut down as much as 80% of capacity, source says. Jennifer Rubin ✔ @JRubinBlogger He can order them to open but what if no one shows up? Will natl guard operate? 1,615 12:20 PM - Apr 28, 2020 Twitter Ads info and privacy 393 people are talking about this Other leftist talking points you can find in response to Ms. Jacobs’ tweet include these gems: – He’ll use the DPA on Tyson, but on to get more testing kits made! (Of course, he hasn’t needed to use it to get test kits made since so many great U.S. companies voluntarily stepped up to the plate to do it.) – Workers have died in these plants!!!! (No, they haven’t.) – What about Tyson’s liability??????? (He’s going to sign an EO to take care of that issue.) And on and on the inanity goes. Expect to see all of these moronic talking points rolled out this afternoon by Juan Williams on The Five. This is absolutely the right action for the President to take given the state of play right now. The U.S. population has taken all of the restrictions related to the government’s response to the Wuhan Virus quietly to this point, largely because of the various stimulus bills designed to mask all the financial hardships and the fact that no one is going hungry because of it to this point. But that peaceful acquiescence and the increasingly tiresome “we’re all in this together apart” messaging would go down the tubes in a hurry if the pork, chicken and beef suddenly disappears like all the toilet paper suddenly did back in March. You want to see massive civil unrest in this country like Jennifer Rubin and her fellow DC dimwit brigade are wishing for? There is no surer way to bring that about than through large-scale interruptions in the food supply chain. This is the right move at the right time by President Trump. All else is just so much noise parroted by a pack of critics who never missed a meal in their privileged lives. That is all.

[Buckeye McFrog]

You're wrong on both counts. Meat processing requires a lot of skilled trades

Can't be too skilled based on what it pays. I am sure there is constant turnover and retraining going on in any case.

In the words of a Rosie the Riveter, "Those men had been sold a bill of goods. They were told their jobs required years of training, apprenticeships. But the truth is that you could be trained to do them quickly, and to do them very well, when the need was there."

[Balding_Eagle]

We’ve sold boatloads of American meats overseas for decades.

That’s been a big factor in keeping domestic prices low.

I raised hogs for decades. Hundreds of thousands.

[Flaming Conservative]

I’m not saying meat processing doesn’t involve skill. I realize that there are several skills involving meat cutting. But there are also lots of low skilled jobs involved that workers could pick up without too much effort.
And as far as troops go, number one, I wouldn’t expect them to have to be at this for too long a period. And number two, at least they know how to follow orders and follow good hygiene practices. And unless you’re living in a sealed box with no contact with your average government educated or uneducated person, you know how sloppy work ethics have become over the last few decades. Why else do they have to put signs in restrooms, reminding food workers they must wash their hands after using the toilet? If you think they all actually obey that sign, you’d be wrong.

[Black Agnes]

How many divisions does the supreme court have?

Open at 10% capacity might as well be closed.

No healthy workers == nothing coming off the lines.

Btw, you might ping the ‘karen’ when you talk about her.

The workers at our local plant are still out with this. Several more weeks at least.

Somehow, this will involve importing more illegals to fill these jobs...’temporarily’.

[Buckeye McFrog]

...well THIS certainly hit a nerve...