meatpacking plants News

Firm that Hired Kids to Clean Meat Plants Keeps Losing Work

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The slaughterhouse cleaning company that was found to be employing more than 100 children to help sanitize dangerous razor-sharp equipment like bone saws has continued to lose contracts with the major meat producers since the investigation …

Covid Hit at Least 59,000 Meat Workers in Pandemic’s First Year, Report Says

At least 59,000 meatpacking workers contracted the coronavirus in the first year of the pandemic as the virus rapidly spread in plants’ cramped conditions, according to internal documents from five major meat conglomerates obtained by a U.S. House subcommittee investigating …

Stung By Pandemic and JBS Cyberattack, U.S. Ranchers Build New Beef Plants

U.S. cattle ranchers and investors are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars into new beef plants after temporary closures of massive slaughterhouses at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic left farmers with nowhere to send animals destined to be turned …

Most U.S. Firms Hit With Covid-19 Safety Fines Aren’t Paying Up

U.S. workplace safety regulators have announced more than $4 million in penalties on more than 300 employers they say put workers at risk during the COVID-19 pandemic. But about two-thirds of these employers aren’t paying up. Only 108 companies had …

Democrats Probe Tyson, Smithfield, OSHA Over Covid Outbreaks

A Democratic-led House panel is launching a probe into coronavirus outbreaks at meatpacking plants and whether the Occupational Safety and Health Administration adequately enforced worker safety rules. Representative James Clyburn, who chairs the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, …

Meatpackers Deny Workers Benefits For Covid-19 Deaths, Illnesses

Saul Sanchez died in April, one of six workers with fatal COVID-19 infections at meatpacker JBS USA’s slaughterhouse in Greeley, Colorado, the site of one of the earliest and deadliest coronavirus outbreaks at a U.S. meatpacking plant. Before getting sick, …

OSHA Cites Smithfield Foods For Failing to Protect Workers From Coronavirus

CHICAGO, Sept 10 — The U.S. Labor Department said on Thursday it cited Smithfield Foods for failing to protect employees from the coronavirus, making it the first major meatpacker to face a fine after outbreaks at slaughterhouses infected thousands of …

U.S. Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Over Worker Safety at Smithfield Pork Plant

A U.S. federal judge has dismissed a worker advocacy group’s lawsuit accusing Smithfield Foods Inc, the world’s largest pork processor, of failing to adequately protect employees from the novel coronavirus at a plant in Missouri. Smithfield is already taking many …

Tyson Bets on Robots to Fight Meat Industry Worker Shortage

When you visit a meat plant, humans are completing tasks like stacking pallets and packing chicken drumsticks. But Tyson Foods Inc. thinks robots can do it all. The U.S. meat giant is betting that automation and robotics can alleviate a …