MONDAY,SEPTEMBER 14 , 2020 .THEWASHINGTONPOST EZ RE A
ployees andothers in critical sup-
plychainrolesstopshowingupfor
work,”Sullivan wrote in aletter
obtained by the nonprofitjournal-
ismoutletProPublica. “This is a
directresult of the government
continually reiteratingthe impor-
tanceof social distancing,with
minimal detail surrounding this
guidance.”
He added:“Socialdistancingis
anicetythatmakes senseonlyfor
people with laptops.”
In aJune 30 letter to Democrat-
ic Sens.Elizabeth Warren(Mass.)
andCoryBooker(N.J.), Sullivan
againpushedbackon concerns
the lawmakers raisedregarding
the company’shandlingofthe vi-
rus in their plants.
“Pleaseunderstand,processing
plantswere no moredesignedto
operateinapandemicthanhospi-
talswere designed to produce
pork,” Sullivanwrote.“In other
words, for better or worse, our
plantsare whattheyare. Four
walls,engineereddesign,efficient
useofspace,etc.Spreadout?Okay.
Where?”
JBS flexed its muscleto reopen
its doorsbefore it hadimplement-
ed manyofthe safety measures
Weld Countyhealthofficials man-
dated for theGreeleyplantin
April,whentheyorderedtheplant
to closebecauseofcoronavirus
outbreaks, records show.
Company executivessuccess-
fullyenlisted Vice PresidentPence
andCentersfor DiseaseControl
andPrevention Director Robert
Redfield to helpkeepthe plant
running.OnApril10, when the
closure orderwas sentforthe
plant,Penceand PresidentTrump
bothmentioned the Greeleyplant
at theday’sWhiteHousecoronavi-
rus briefing,promising testingre-
sources to theplant.
An hourlater,JBS USAchief
executiveAndre Nogueira public-
lythankedPenceinanewsrelease.
PencespokesmanDevinM.O’Mal-
leysaidother meatplantsalso
werehelpedandthatthevicepres-
ident’s “efforts wereinstrumental
in ensuring thatAmericans did
not experience food shortages
during the peak of theCOVID-
outbreak.”
Theday afterthe county’sclo-
sure order, Jill Hunsaker Ryan,
directorofColorado’s healthagen-
cy,wrotein an emailto then-Weld
Countyhealthdirector Mark Wal-
lace, sayingshe had receivedacall
fromRedfieldregardingthe Gree-
leyplant.
“JBS wasin touchwith the VP
whohadDirector Redfieldcall
me,”she wroteinthe April
email. Redfieldwantedthe local
and statehealthauthoritiesto
send“asymptomatic peopleback
to work even if we suspectexpo-
surebut theyhavenosymptoms,”
Ryan wrote.She saidshe was okay
withthatifWallacewas.
Astate healthdepartmentem-
ployee, whospokeonthe condi-
tionofanonymitybecauseof fears
of retributionfromthe federal
government,said theycomplied
withRedfield’srequest out of fear
thatthestatewouldbecutoff from
aid it needed fromCDC to manage
the pandemic.
Theemployeeconfirmedthere
was “heavy involvement from
highlevels within the federal gov-
ernment.”
[email protected]socialdistancing and state-or-
dered quarantines theysay drove
up absentee rates amongworkers.
In mid-March, Smithfield
Foods’schief executive,Kenneth
Sullivan, sentaletter to Nebraska
Gov. Pete Ricketts (R) sayinghe
had “graveconcerns” thatthe
state’sstay-at-home orders were
causing“hysteria.”
“Weare increasingly at avery
highriskthatfoodproductionem-foran“other-than-serious” viola-
tion.
However,critics said their
problem wasnot with the dollar
amount for asingle violation;
their frustrationiswith the agen-
cy’s citationofonlyone serious
violationfor eachplant. OSHA
declined further commentonthe
fine amounts.
Bothcompanieshavefought
strictenforcement measuresoning shift, saidshesent emailsin
mid-MarchtotheWhiteHouseand
Smithfield’s humanresourcesde-
partment telling them about the
graveconcernsshehad:Thousands
of employeeswere workingwith-
outmasks,workers werepacked
like“tunainacan”onprocessing
lines, and several areas within the
planthad no handsanitizer.
“Theydid notsitdownwith
me,”said Sibert, whotested posi-
tive forthe coronavirus in early
Aprilandtookseveral weeks to
recover.“They onlyemailed or
[lefta]message sayingtheyappre-
ciated my concerns.”
WhenOSHAinspectors arrived
at theplantApril20, she was
hopeful, butshe, too,isdisap-
pointed with the outcome.Like
Cordova, sheworriesthe OSHA
fine is not enough to promptthe
companytocreatemoresocialdis-
tancing in theplant,which,rec-
ordsshow,Smithfield has fought.
The$13,494 fine, Sibert said,
wastoo low.“It isn’t goingtoscare
them,” she said.“They makethat
kindof moneyinahalf-hour—
less.”
By contrast, California, which
runsitsownOSHAprogram,fined
ameatplantabout$220,000 last
weekfor similar violations.
OSHAdefended itselfbysaying
it issuedthe maximumfine al-
lowedunderthe law—$13,494 —
for citations for aseriousviola-
tion.Eachcompany received that,
and JBS alsoreceiveda$2,121 finemeetour internal standards.”
TheNorth American Meat In-
stitute, atrade association, also
criticizedthe“inconsistent and
sometimestardygovernment ad-
vice”inastatement andsaidthe
industry quicklytookstepsto pro-
tect workers when the virushit in
March. It alsosaidconfirmedcor-
onaviruscasesamongplantwork-
ers have droppedsignificantlyin
recentmonths becauseofmea-
surestaken in the plants.
In responseto thecriticism,
OSHA said that itsinvestigative
processis“exhaustive” and thatit
metlegalmandates becauseithas
“a six month statute of limitations
to complete anyinvestigationand
issueacitation.”Inresponseto
Smithfield’s statement,OSHAalso
said,“Therisksand precautions
needed werewell-knownat the
timeandSmithfield didnot ad-
dresstheminatimely manner.”
KimCordova, presidentof the
UFCWLocal7,whichrepresents
the JBSemployees,saidshe wor-
riesthe smallfines mayactually
makeconditionsworsefor plant
workers.
“These tinyfinesare nothing to
[meat plantowners].They givean
incentive to make these workers
workfasterandharderinthemost
unsafe workingconditions imag-
inable,”said Cordova, referencing
JBS’s$15,615 fine.
SandraSibert, aunionrepresen-
tative at theSmithfieldplantwho
deboneshamson the early-morn-fines.The companies criticized
federal regulators fortaking so
longtogivethemguidanceonhow
to keep workers safe.
At least42,534 meatpacking
workers have tested positivefor
the novel coronavirusin 494 meat
plants,and at least203 meatpack-
ing workers have died since
March, accordingtoananalysisby
the Food EnvironmentalReport-
ingNetwork,anonprofitinvesti-
gativenewsorganization.
At the Smithfield plantin Sioux
Falls, S.D.,1,294havetested posi-
tivefor the coronavirusand four
have died.At the JBS USAplantin
Greeley, Colo., 290havetested
positiveand six have died.
Smithfieldlastyear hadrev-
enueofnearly $14billion.JBS—
the largestmeatpacker in the
world —had $51.7billioninrev-
enue. Bothcompanies,which op-
erateinternationally, saidthatthe
citations are“withoutmerit,”that
theywillcontestthemand that
theyhavealready madesafetyim-
provements.
TheOccupationalSafetyand
Health Administrationsaidthe
plants failedtoprovideawork-
place “free fromrecognizedhaz-
ardsthatwere causingor likely to
cause deathorseriousphysical
harmtoemployeesin thatem-
ployees were workingin close
proximitytoeachotherandwere
exposedto” the coronavirus.
Thecitationsalso saidthe com-
panies“did not develop or imple-
menttimelyand effectivemea-
sures to mitigate exposures.”
In addition to improving dis-
tancing between employees,
OSHAorderedthe companiesto
erectbarriersbetween the work-
ers when thatisn’t possible.With
Smithfield,OSHAsaidthe plant
needed to adjustprocessing line
speeds“to enable employeesto
stand fartherapart.”
Thecompanies, worker safety
groups andmeatplantworkers
criticizedOSHAfor howlongit
tookthe agencyto complete inves-
tigationsofthe plants.
“Wherewere they whenpeople
weregetting sickand werehospi-
talized? Whenpeopleweredy-
ing?” saidDebbie Berkowitz, a
worker-safety expertwiththe
nonprofit National Employment
LawProject. “Justthink about
howmanylivescouldhavebeen
savedand howmanypeople may
not have gotten sick.”
Mark Lauritsen,vicepresident
anddirector of foodprocessing,
packing andmanufacturingwith
theUnited Food andCommercial
Workers International Union
(UFCW),said he believesthe sud-
denissuance of citations,months
after the plantswerespikingwith
coronaviruscases, is motivated by
the upcoming election.
“Theycheckedout andturneda
blindeye to this for months. The
Trumpadministration madethese
decisions to not step in andhelp
workers,”Lauritsen said.“Now
theyare tryingtolook liketheyare
doingtheirjob so theycan cover
themselves politically.People in
this countryrememberthe horror
of whathappenedtothesework-
ers.”
TheWhiteHousedid notre-
spondtoarequest for comment.
Of the nearly 10,000 virus-relat-
ed requests OSHA receivedto in-
vestigate workplacesin all indus-
tries sinceearly March, Smithfield
andJBSare theonly onesthat
have so far resulted in acitation
andfine. Unrelated to the com-
plaints, OSHA hasissued six other
virus-related citationsand fines
for industriesotherthanthe meat
industry, whichresultedfromrou-
tine reports the agencyreceived
fromhospitals and employers
aboutworkersbeing hospitalized
or fatally injured,recordsshow.
Themassive coronavirus out-
breaksat meat plants —and the
lack of masksand socialdistanc-
ingthatfueledthevirus’sspread—
hasbeen widely reported by me-
dia since March and April.
KeiraLombardo,executivevice
presidentofcorporateaffairs and
compliance at Smithfield, criti-
cizedOSHA,sayingtheagency
was slowto issue guidance to
meatpackers, adding,“Despite
thisfact, we figured it out on our
own.”
She alsosaid the company“si-
multaneously and repeatedly
urged OSHAto commit the time
andresourcestovisit our opera-
tionsinMarchand April. They did
not do so.”
JBS alsowascritical of OSHA’s
response to thepandemic,saying
the agencydid not provideguid-
anceuntillateAprilon ways to
remedy safety problemsthat
would have preventedthespread
of thecoronavirusin plants.
“The OSHA citation ...at-
temptstoimpose astandardthat
didnotexistinMarchaswefought
the pandemicwithno guidance,”
JBSsaidinastatement.“Every
proposed abatement in the cita-
tionwas implemented months
agoinGreeley. These abatements
would have beeninformativein
February. Today, theydon’t even
VIRUSFROMA
Unions bash OSHA’s response to outbreaks at meat plants
ALEXMCINTYRE/ASSOCIATEDPRESSSHANNONSTAPLETON/REUTERS
TOP:The familyofSaul Sanchez,alongtime employeeataJBS meatprocessingplant,carrieshis casketduring aburial ceremonyApril
in Greeley,Colo. Sanchezdied after contracting thenovel coronavirus amidan outbreak at the plant.ABOVE:ASmithfieldFoodspork
plantinSioux Falls,S.D., is seenclosed April17amid asurge of coronavirus cases among employees. Smithfield and JBSUSA,two of the
leading meat processorsinthe United States, facefines fromfederalregulatorsfor violations related to outbreaksofthe virus.050010001500200025003000Newcoronaviruscasesand deaths in the U.S., by day
190,Total
6,486,TotalAsof8p.m.SundayFeb.29 Sept.13 Feb.29 Sept.02,2,1,1,50038133,010,20,30,40,50,60,70,7-day
average7-day
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