House Panel Investigating COVID-19 Outbreaks at Tyson, JBS, Smithfield Plants
A special House of Representatives panel is probing COVID-19 outbreaks at major meatpacking plants.
The Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis says major companies have shown a disregard for the health of their workers amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
In letters to Tyson Foods, Smithfield Foods, and JBS USA, Chairman James Clyburn (D-S.C.) accused them of taking actions that “appear to have resulted in thousands of meatpacking workers getting infected with the virus and hundreds dying.”
Clyburn asked the companies to provide documents relating to complaints from employees regarding the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, which causes COVID-19, documents related to virus-related inspections at facilities and plants, and details on the number of employees who have tested positive for COVID-19.
U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, chairman of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, announced Monday that the committee will investigate the spread of COVID-19 in the nation’s meatpacking plants.
In a first move, the committee issued investigatory letters to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and food companies JBS USA, Smithfield Foods, and Tyson Foods. Each letter requested a bevy of documents, including those that could shed light on how each entity responded to COVID-19 outbreaks and complaints within plants.
In a letter to OSHA, Clyburn, a Democrat from South Carolina, criticized the agency for failing “to adequately carry out its responsibility for enforcing worker safety laws” at plants, resulting in infections and death.
Workers are shown leaving the Tyson Foods pork processing plant in Logansport, Ind., in May. A House subcommittee is investigating the Trump administration s handling of COVID-19 outbreaks at meatpacking plants, focusing on the Occupational Safety and Health Administration as well as major companies Tyson, Smithfield and JBS.
A U.S. House subcommittee is investigating coronavirus outbreaks at meatpacking plants, citing the deaths of more than 250 employees nationwide and accusing the Trump administration of failing to enforce worker safety laws.
Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., chairman of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, announced the probe in a press release on Monday. He said he sent letters requesting documents from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, part of the Department of Labor, as well as three of the country s largest meatpacking companies: Tyson Foods, Smithfield Foods and JBS USA.
January 27, 2021
Clockwise, from top left: Laura Lane, UPS; Darnell Grisby, TransForm; Guy Grainger, JLL, Boma Brown-West, EDF; Miriam Nelson, Newman s Own Foundation; Asheen Phansey, Circular Fashion Group; Clare Shine, University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership; Janelle Heslop, Amgen. Middle row from left: Claire Bergkamp, Textile Exchange; Steve Quarles, AWEA; Elliott Rodgers, Ulta Beauty; Maribel Bostic, SunPower; Dana Worth, Plenty.
You dared to dream that some of the upheaval of 2020 would let up at the New Year s stroke of midnight? The speeds and feeds of 2021 already have left us winded. That means accelerating need for sustainability professionals to step up. Plenty of people in this space have spruced up their LinkedIn pages and changed roles in recent months. There s noted activity in the sustainable apparel space, and boards are getting more intentional about inclusivity.