Another Smithfield Food plant has been struck by the coronavirus

[TomCADem]

Source: MSN

The Health Department in Bladen County, N.C., confirmed that another Smithfield Foods processing plant reported one or more positive cases of the novel coronavirus.

The department's director, Teresa Duncan, said agencies both local and national are working to protect public health and ensure the safety of employees while further mitigating the spread of the virus, according to a press release obtained by local outlet WECT.

"The health and well-being of the employees is our first priority," said Duncan.

The health department's release did not indicate an exact number of cases confirmed at the plant, but the county affirmed there are some cases.

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/another-smithfield-food-plant-has-been-struck-by-the-coronavirus/ar-BB12Qua0?ocid=msedgdhp

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So, while South Dakota pushes to reopen even though a plant in its state had 518 infected employees, with one death as a result of the coronavirus infection, other plants in other states are getting hit.

[underpants]

1. Oh shit. That's the Tar Heel plant. 30,000 pigs a day processed there

Yes 30,000 per day. Everyday.

Smithfield doesn't give a crap about their employees. Many are recruited and here illegally.

[TomCADem]

3. Don't Think COVID-19 Cares About Immigration Status

Indeed, the right likes to push the idea that immigrants and minorities are the main ones carrying the disease, which is why so many right wingers felt they could protest and flout social distancing with impunity.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/10/opinions/how-to-fight-bias-against-asian-americans-covid-19-liu/index.html

Covid-19 has inflamed racism against Asian-Americans. Here's how to fight back

(CNN)"Cover your face and don't forget your sunglasses!" I sent this text message to my 36-year-old Asian American cousin, who lives in Brooklyn. She has been wearing sunglasses to hide her Asian traits when going outside during the Covid-19 pandemic.

While most Americans are staying home, trying to navigate virtual work and worrying about paying bills, Asian Americans are doing all of that while also fearing for our safety.

The FBI reported that Chinese and Asian Americans are now experiencing increased hate crimes due to the coronavirus global outbreak.

We've seen many cases already on the news. Recently, a 2-year-old and a 6-year-old were stabbed at a Texas Sam's Club because the alleged perpetrator thought, he told police, that the family was Chinese and spreading the disease. A 44-year-old man was charged with aggravated harassment after allegedly harassing and pushing a 47-year-old Asian man in Queens who was walking his son to a bus stop.

[underpants]

4. I hadn't heard that they were making that (mis) connection

Doesn’t surprise me at all.

I say that because in the early days of this there was a thought in the AA community that they couldn’t get it, or weren’t.

[Mendocino]

2. The workers have little

or no sick leave; work or be fired. The CAFOS and slaughterhouses are damp bloody places with no social distance. It's a perfect storm of disaster.

[mathematic]

6. Really? That sounds like a pretty shitty union they got there.

What's the pay like?

[Mendocino]

11. Life in Tar Heel NC

[link:

&t=12s|

[underpants]

17. There's no union

Not in the heart of Dixie

[mathematic]

20. Since when? n/t

[paleotn]

23. Like the 90's

when they started dumping their unionized employees and opening new plants in right to fire states, staffed entirely by non-union workers, mostly undocumented immigrants.

https://www.npr.org/2019/08/09/749932968/chicken-plants-see-little-fallout-from-immigration-raids

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postville_raid

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swift_raids

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2018/04/11/the-price-of-cheap-meat-raided-slaughterhouses-and-upended-communities/

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/07/us/ice-raids-mississippi.html

https://www.jstor.org/stable/41960519?seq=1

https://www.hrw.org/reports/2005/usa0105/7.htm

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/05/08/exploitation-and-abuse-at-the-chicken-plant

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2018/06/20/ice-arrests-nearly-150-meat-plant-workers-in-latest-immigration-raid-in-ohio/

https://apnews.com/711d52e4bccd41bc894907a9e1645d09

and on and on and on.....

[mathematic]

25. Wow all those links and you're still wrong

None of those are are this plant.

Your post is a great example of the "gish gallop". You threw a ton of links at me about random chicken plants that are not Smithfield's NC plant in order to confuse, intimidate, and overwhelm. You are wrong. These workers are represented by a union and have been so since 2008. These workers are represented by UFCW local 1208.

[paleotn]

29. Then they are the rare exception in the return to The Jungle.

I wonder how many Smithfield execs lost their heads when Tar Heel ratified union representation in 2008? There was blood on "the carpet" to be sure. I've been on the management side of that, though not in food, and fully understand the lengths management will go to insure unions stay out of their facilities, both legal and highly illegal. It's draconian in the extreme.

And no...that wasn't a gish gallop. The industry, from poultry to pork to beef is a horror story compared to what it was like in the 70's an 80's when most plants had been unionized for decades. Smithfield's rank and file did good and are to be commended.

[paleotn]

22. Union?!

Bwahahahahahaha!

Those days are long gone my friend.

[Cattledog]

10. They have paid sick leave at that particular plant.

[Mendocino]

13. That they do,

thanks for the clarification.

[paleotn]

24. But can they use it....

Work rules are whatever management says they are in non-union facilities. Many make them up as they go along. And they don't run lines as fast as they do for kicks or to flood the market with protein. It's a tight balancing act in perishables between production and demand and these plants are leaned out to the max to minimize cost and maximize profit. Capacity is tight because over capacity is expensive. As capacity becomes constrained with some employees out sick or taking care of their kids because schools are shut down, etc., the pressure to ensure those plants that are running are fully staffed is immense. No sick time for you! Get your ass to work or we'll find some other poor slob from Guatemala to take your place.

[Thunderbeast]

5. We have been lulled into a false sense of food security

The entire food infrastructure depends on low-wage workers miraculously staying healthy.

I see zero effort going into protecting our ability to produce and distribute food...even if we can afford to buy it (which is already a huge problem for many).

If FEMA is working on this, they are way in the background.

[TexasTowelie]

9. I expect for meat products to get increasingly difficult to obtain as we progress through the next

few months and it will be a long term problem. It should be considered as the next product that will be hoarded. Anybody who has the ability to afford it and store it would be wise to do so.

[paleotn]

27. Many have taken lean manufacturing to an extreme...

Supply chains are too lean and tight. Little overcapacity exists in production. Warehousing, overcapacity and slack in manufacturing and supply chains costs money and is deemed unnecessary if you're working in a just-in-time environment. Which sounds great on paper, but only works if the environment remains stable over long periods. It doesn't. Black swans blow up these ultra leaned out models and CvD-19 is one hell of a black swan.

I've argued that through for years now, to no avail, as the pencil pushers always expect the next 5 years to be exactly like the last 5 years. What's in our LRP? My usual answer is pipe dreams and bullshit, because we don't really know what's going to happen next year much less 5 years from now. Will they be like the last 5? Maybe, but the probabilities aren't all that strong. Certainly not strong enough to base all our long range plans on tight models with little flexibility. Plan for the best, but make absolutely sure flexibility is built in for the worst. It's more expensive, but well worth it when shit inevitably blows up. Crises will come and we old guys have seen lots of them. And the youngsters now will see them too. And when they're old and gray, they'll be bitching at the young hot shots just like I do. And just like the old guys who bitched at me years ago. The great circle of experience, inexperience and bitching.

[Budi]

7. When the processing plants shut down there's no where to sell livestock

A rancher friend of mine is exactly in this spot.

He was to sell off 50 cattle last week, because he's allowed only so many for the size of his property.

He couldn't sell because there was no market to take his livestock to.

Why?
Because the processing plants weren't accepting any due to the closings.

There's a top to bottom complete shut down in many areas across the country.
It has almost brought the country to a dead halt.

What still remains may not do so for long & I don't see Trump the least bit interested in changing this trajectory.

He's beholden to somebody & its obviously not this country.

[2naSalit]

16. Yup.

Welcome to DU!

[Budi]

21. 👍

[paleotn]

28. Sounds like the dairy guys around here....

having to dump their milk. Holsteins have to be milked once bred. There's no other way. But local dairy producers don't need it as demand has plummeted with schools, restaurants and such shut down. I feel for them. I really do. Just as milk prices began to rise a bit after 5 years of depressed prices ruined many farmers, now this. It's tough and we'll probably see more guys sell off their herds if we ever get out of this.

[Budi]

30. There's no end is there. Like watching dominoes fall in slow motion

It is an epic tragedy

[paleotn]

32. That it is.

[dalton99a]

8. Kick

[Maxheader]

12. Other places are doing it...

Mandatory mask...even mechanical shops...

But food processing? Should have a test everyday for everyone..and
proper protection..masks..hoods..suits..

[JmAln]

15. Agreed.

These food processing plants should be considered vital to our national security. The workers in them should be wearing N95 masks just like health care workers. If there's not enough masks, then factories should be forced to make more now!

[Talitha]

14. Never thought I'd be rooting for a virus, but c'mon you little lovelies..

It'll only take one of you to slip into a hamberder and save us all from KingCovid.

[BumRushDaShow]

18. I think that is where many on the east coast get their Smithfield products

just roll up I-95.

That plant is supposedly the largest pork processor in the world.

[pazzyanne]

19. Smithfield has a pork packing plant in Worthington, MN.

4/16 they had two COVID-19 cases. On 4/17 the number of case rose to 12, yesterday up to 36, and today they have 60 reported cases. It won't be long before they will be where Sioux Falls is. This company is owned by a Chinese billionaire. Dead Americans mean nothing to him.

Side note: The Worthington plan use to be owned and operated by Hormel Foods located in Austin, MN.

[Coventina]

26. Feels great to be a vegetarian!

[Budi]

31. Its not about the diet. Its about the mass devastation of this nation

[Neoma]

34. Food shortage like this could cause a whole lot more people to become vegetarian.

Not necessarily a bad thing, but you can bet it can cause other food shortages.

[Wellstone ruled]

33. All this Product most likely is

in the Food Supply Chain and some most likely has been consumed.

Chicken turns from Kill to Grocery shelf's within 72 hours in most cases.

Beef in less than 8 hrs in some cases. Same for Pork Loins and Butts.

[Totally Tunsie]

35. Got out to the market today and it was pretty much stripped bare of

any packaged hot dogs, cold cuts, etc. The one area that was untouched...the Smithfield bacon. All other brands were gone.

There's no market for their products as the result of their infection rates anyway. Might as well be closed.