Tyson hires former AG Eric Holder to investigate claims of betting on worker infections

[SharonClark]

Tyson Foods’ CEO announced Thursday he has hired former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to lead an “independent investigation” into a lawsuit’s claims that managers in the company’s Waterloo plant placed bets on the number of workers who would contract COVID-19.

The claims of a betting pool at the food giant’s Waterloo plant, first reported by Iowa Capital Dispatch, are just one set of allegations Tyson is facing in lawsuits across the country.

In Iowa alone, at least three coronavirus-related cases, involving a total of five plaintiffs, are pending in state and federal court. Other COVID-19 lawsuits, filed on behalf of dozens of workers, are pending in Texas courts. . . .

More than 1,000 Tyson employees at the Waterloo plant — a third of the facility’s workforce — have contracted the virus since the beginning of the pandemic and at least five of the workers have died.

Nationally, at least 4,600 Tyson employees in 15 states have been infected with COVID-19, and at least 18 have died. According to the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting, there have been at least 42,000 infections tied to meatpacking facilities in at least 470 plants in 40 states, and at least 215 deaths are associated with 51 plants in 27 states.

In Iowa alone, at least 3,835 infections and nine deaths are tied to meatpacking plants. . . .

In Texas, at least three lawsuits have been filed against Tyson — one by a group of 12 employees at the company’s plaint in Center, Texas, one by 41 employees of Tyson’s Amarillo plant, and one by the family of a deceased Tyson employee. . . .

https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2020/11/19/tyson-hires-former-ag-eric-holder-to-investigate-claims-of-betting-on-worker-infections/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=715e5393-4d83-4569-ad9f-923a5620ec2a

[exboyfil]

1. We have a lot of immigrants that work in these plants

Bosnian and Latino. I remember the stories at the time which criticized them for how they lived (large families in relatively small accommodations). They weren't even viewed as human.

My daughter had a clinical in this plant. She couldn't believe the conditions that they work under (this was pre-Covid). She even mentioned that she walked under a carcass that was only secured by the worker before being put on the conveyor system. The plants I work in were never have let that happen (component parts to a vehicle). That is a major safety issue.