Hamberders, Yes! Humans, No!
When it became obvious that inadequate supplies of protective material was endangering the health of medical and frontline workers, President Trump was barely interested in using the powers of his office to help.
When it became likely that hamburgers and chicken fingers might become scarce, it was a different story altogether. The President invoked the Defense Production Act to order processing plants to reopen, despite widespread infections in the workforce.
Meatpacking plants have become incubators for the virus as employees work side-by-side in dangerous conditions. A single plant in South Dakota had 293 employees testing positive for Covid-19.
The United Food and Commercial Workers union says at least 22 plants processing meat from pork to chicken have closed at some point in recent days. Twenty workers are known fatalities, and an estimated 6500 others have been exposed to the virus.
Tyson Foods ran a full page ad on Sunday in The New York Times, the Washington Post and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette warning that “the food supply chain is breaking" and plant closings will lead to shortages at grocery stores.
Facing the prospect of meatless Mondays becoming an everyday phenomena, along with an inflation inducing spike in food costs, the President sprang into action.
The order to re-open asked Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue to "take all appropriate action" to ensure that meat companies continue operating under guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
OSHA has not ordered mandatory safety rules and instead only issued recommendations. The Smithfield company only complied with those suggestions after being ordered to do so by a federal judge in Missouri.
From Politico:
Union leaders rushed to condemn Trump’s order, asserting that he was not taking into consideration employees' safety.
“We only wish that this administration cared as much about the lives of working people as it does about meat, pork and poultry products,” Stuart Appelbaum, president of the UFCW-affiliated Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, said in a statement.
“If they want to keep the meat and poultry supply chain healthy, they need to make sure that workers are safe and healthy,” he said.
The Department of Labor responded to criticism that it isn't protecting meatpackers sufficiently late on Tuesday, releasing a statement saying "it is vitally important" in light of the president's pending order that meat, pork, and poultry processors adhere to interim guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Again, this guidance consists of recommendations, not mandates. And the Labor Department emphasized that it "will take into account good faith attempts" to follow the suggestions.
Mark Sumner at Daily Kos:
As Rachael Maddow reported on Tuesday evening, this isn’t the first time that the U.S. has faced an issue of disease in the workplace. In past situations, such as a problem just two years ago in which lettuce from several farms was contaminated by E. coli, or situations where water supplies were contaminated, both the FDA and CDC have stepped in to issue strict orders and provide detailed instructions on what needs to be done in order to address the issue.
Only this time … not so much. Now that Trump has made working in a stew of viral danger a job requirement, regulatory agencies can’t exactly close down the company for safety violations. The alternative? There are no safety violations. The FDA and CDC aren’t ordering companies to do anything. They’re suggesting.
But wait! It gets worse.
The enforcers at OSHA, as is true with other government agencies charged with enforcing health and safety mandates, are operating with two hands tied behind their backs.
National Employment Law Project data indicates OSHA had only 862 inspectors at the start of the year, marking a 45-year low. According to NELP, at its current staffing level, "the agency would need 165 years to inspect each workplace under its jurisdiction just once."
The Trump administration is reportedly incorporating plans to further relax regulations across the government as part of its re-opening strategy.
The playbook for these “revival” ideas comes from the Heritage Foundation’s National Coronavirus Recovery Commission.
A 15-page report by that group includes numerous steps for the administration to take, including a repeal of business regulations at the state and federal level. Temporary rules issued by the Food and Drug Administration, Department of Health and Human Services and Environmental Protection Agency in response to the coronavirus would be made permanent.
One recommendation, which a White House official confirmed is under consideration, is having the president call on all federal agencies to not enforce regulations against small businesses.
Democrats in Congress are pushing back, proposing mandatory safety standards to be included in the Covid-19 relief bill.
More than 200 workers' rights, public health, and consumer advocacy organizations are urging lawmakers to pass H.R. 6559 (116), which would require OSHA to issue an emergency standard within seven days defining mandatory protections companies must provide to their workers to prevent exposure to the coronavirus.
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While deregulation fever may be sweeping most of the government, America’s drug law enforcers are staying busy.
Federal grand jury subpoenas have been served on nearly 100 cannabis businesses and individuals including company employees, officers, various investors and others in the industry.
From Marijuana Business Daily:
“The bottom line is the feds are showing they’re not done investigating cannabis, not done prosecuting cannabis,” California attorney Matt Kumin said after reading the subpoena.
Among the revelations: The investigation is partially focused on Weedmaps’ relationships with both licensed and apparently illicit California cannabis companies.
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The best Orwellian spin on the current crisis...
...and those pesky facts….
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