On June 7, Arkansas reported a record number of 450 new Covid-19 cases, 400 of those cases being outside of the prison system. Northwest Arkansas was leading the number of new infections, with many of the new cases linked to poultry processing plants.
According to the Arkansas Dept. of Health, as of June 5 there were 170 active cases in the poultry businesses in Benton County and 145 active cases in Washington County. A total of 245 Covid-19 cases were reported in Benton County and 190 in Washington County. Carroll County had six active cases with 11 cases total.
While Tyson Foods has run full-page advertisements in the state’s largest newspaper and larger newspapers in the country touting what the company is doing to protect workers from Covid-19, some employees and advocates for the poultry workers said Tyson must do more in order to protect employees and public health.
A poultry worker at a Tyson’s Chick-N-Quick plant in Rogers said even where workspaces are divided, workers are often shoulder-to-shoulder. The worker, who asked to remain anonymous to prevent retaliation by his employer, said there are places where they all congregate like the bathrooms, the lunchroom and the area where they change into protective gear. He said they don’t have specific places to put their own clothing, like a locker.
“We have to pile our clothes up together in one place,” he said. “And sometimes we have to wear the same apron that has been worn by another worker.”
He is concerned not only about the workers, but the broader community.
“Those workers who have Covid-19 are going to go outside and infect families, children, old people,” he said. “Eventually, they must go to grocery stores, so they could infect others in the community. Anything that happens inside will have an impact in the community. Many workers in my plant are terrified to go to work. They are afraid if they leave work because they feel ill, there will be consequences. They are afraid they will eventually be terminated.”
The source said that when workers at the plant recently tested positive for Covid-19, supervisors told them that Tyson was not responsible for the cases, and the workers may have gotten it at grocery stores or somewhere outside of the plant. The worker also said not all workers are being provided the same protective gear, like face shields and masks.
Tyson announced recently it planned to test all workers at its plants in Washington and Benton counties.
“We’re working diligently to protect our people by taking their temperatures, requiring face coverings and deep cleaning our facilities,” was in an email from Tyson customer relations to the Eureka Springs Independent. “We’re implementing social distancing measures, such as installing workstation dividers and providing more breakroom space. We also relaxed our attendance policy to encourage workers to stay at home when they’re sick. Please be assured that we are committed to preventing any spreading of the coronavirus.”
The concerns noted by the worker are commonly reported by other workers at the plant in Rogers and in other plants, according to Magaly Licolli, an organizer with Venceremos, a support group for meatpacking workers in Northwest Arkansas. Licolli said that more than 4,000 Tyson workers nationwide have contracted Covid-19, a number she said she thinks is greatly underreported.
Another issue with workers is that they are now being penalized if they miss work for anything other than Covid-19. Even if they are very sick, they fear missing work will lead to them being fired. Tyson recently reversed a policy instituted in mid-March when the company said it was “relaxing attendance policies in our plants by eliminating any punitive effect for missing work due to illness.”
Licolli said the number of sick workers has left shortages on the processing lines.
“Workers are having to do twice the amount of work because so many of their co-workers are out sick,” Licolli said. “They are exhausted physically, mentally and emotionally. This situation is too overwhelming for them. It is degrading to them. They worry about making family members sick.”
The rallying cry of Venceremos is, “Workers’ health is public health.” Licolli said if more action isn’t taken to stem the spread of Covid-19 from meatpacking plants, there will not only be a health crisis, but a food crisis and an economic crisis.
One precaution taken at plants is a temperature check. But, Licolli said that a lack of fever does not always indicate the absence of the virus.
“The common signs of Covid-19 are fever, aches, coughing and shortness of breath,” Licolli said. “But the disease can cause quite a few other different symptoms or no symptoms at all. And the virus can incubate for fourteen days before people show symptoms such as fever.”
She said Tyson is acting much too late.
“When we began the campaign in early March, workers had no personal protection equipment and no social distancing,” she said. “It was only in late April that workers got PPE and partitions were installed at workstations. Even with partitions between workers, they are often working shoulder-to-shoulder. If they genuinely care for workers, they will reduce the number of workstations, put workers in quarantine who are at risk, make sure areas are sanitized frequently, and decrease the speed of the line. What we are seeing right now is the company pretending they are caring for workers, but actually their measures are not proving to be effective whatsoever.”
She also said that workers with Covid-19 aren’t being provided sick leave, but short-term disability based on the length of service. She said they are still are not being paid full-time for the 40 hours they normally worked.
Licolli said Arkansas needs to better regulate how these companies are operating.
“Education is always important for all communities,” she said. “But the governor is not doing what he needs to do to prevent more outbreaks at these plants.”
Licolli said the poultry plants are not seeing workers as essential.
“They are seeing them as expendable because most are refugees – African Americans, Hispanics and Marshallese,” she said. “These companies don’t care for the health or the lives of these workers.”
Business Insider has reported that at least 4,500 Tyson workers nationwide have caught Covid-19, with 18 deaths. The Guardian states half the current Covid-19 hotspots in the U.S. are linked to meat processing plants.
I was surprised to see that the 2 Tyson plants in Carroll County weren’t mentioned in this article. Have they somehow miraculously been free of any cases of Covid-19 or problems with distancing of employees?