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We need Congressional hearing, just like they did with tobacco, and hold their feet to the fire until they admit their malfeasance and put plans in place for the next possible pandemic. These executives need to be publicly humiliated into action. Maybe the Board of Directors of these companies might want to get into the act and fire some executives. Maybe the Board of Directors could face some expensive class action law suits for incompetence. THIS REPORT NEEDS TO BE BROADCAST FAR AND WIDE.
Why does this instantly remind me of the so-called economist Milton Friedman? He, of course, was one of the chief deities in the pantheon of the right wing. In the 1970s and 1980s he was arguing for the abolition of the Food and Drug Administration. You see, we didn’t need things like food inspection, because food processing companies would do it out of the goodness of their hearts.
The take-away is that conservatives and their corporate funders will happily kill you rather than lift a finger or spend a dime for public safety. It was true when Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle more than a century ago, and it is certainly true in the Age of Trump.
" Meatpacking Companies Dismissed Years of Warnings but Now Say Nobody Could Have Prepared for COVID-19"
And workers and their families are paying a price with their lives.
Soylent Trump…
My first reaction to this story, beyond OMG, was “Thank goodness I’m a vegetarian.” But even plant-based foods are subject to the same consolidation in the food and ag industry. This makes us all vulnerable to breaks in the supply chain, when agricultural workers have to labor under these conditions.
Right. You can be a 33rd-degree vegan, and if your lettuce and tomatoes and so forth come from the Central Valley, the deplorable labor conditions there mean the food supply is subject to e coli, cryptosporidium, salmonella, and FSM only knows what else.
Trump’s EO ordering meat packing workers back to work and if they do not go back to work, they will lose their job - is exacerbating the spread of Covid not only within a business but to the community at large. It also says a lot what this administration stands for - Bottom Lines Matter more than the dehumanized workers or safety of the public.
One can only hope that Americans will understand that not all regulations are bad and that there are regulations that can protect the public - ie wearing face mask or have safety regulations at work - those are the regulations done in good faith and hopefully elect future government legislators that act in good faith!
At least the Smithfield executive admitted that it was happening. There are people out there who think this is a hoax despite all evidence to the contrary. My neighbor for one. He invited to come and get some peaches at his house. He said to come inside, and I said no thanks, I’m adhering to precautions. He said fine, be that way. The guy is a bit of a kook and I knew that. Most of his ideas have been harmless and I usually just nod my head. In very little time he had launched into denying that covid 19 is a serious pandemic several times more deadly and contagious than the flu, but is a hoax designed to control people. He also went on some anti vaccine rant. I told him that my father in law died of covid in a nursing home in April, and he had some smart answer for that. I threw the bag of peaches against the wall, told him to fuck himself and that I’d heard enough of this bullshit, turned around and left.
I blame Trump and his cult for this, and utterly hate them. He was a decent guy in most ways and a good neighbor. That’s all gone now. I want to cry, but I’m too fucking angry still.
Yes and this is what is aggravating me the most. An industry heavily relies on humans to produce/process a product and they didn’t think what the ramifications were to their business if the workers infected each other.
Second aggro is they rely on undocumented workers, and Trump was building a wall to cut off their supply of workers.
Third most of these processing plants are located in small towns, rural counties without good healthcare access. And I would assume that management also lives in these small towns, so kill off workers and kill off management. I’d love to see their risk assessment reports.
Coronavirus proved beyond a doubt that workers could wield real power if they just organized and stuck together. It didn’t take that many slaughterhouses closed by pandemic to cause nationwide meat shortages.
This is all of a piece with the Trump Administration’s non-performance and self-excuses:
“We did nothing to prepare for this, but what more could we have done?”
Anything.
His actual claim was that, in contradiction to all present and historical evidence, that there is such a thing as an “enlightened capitalist”, none of whom can be identified in the real world, who naturally forgoes profits in the near term because the long term interests of the corporation requires them to look out for the public interest at all times under all circumstances.
And at the same time their sole purpose - their sole responsibility under corporate law - is to increase shareholder value in the next quarter.
The concept of self-regulation is dear to the Republican heart. There are always more humans to fill job vacancies.