In Germany, the government is in a position to revoke a formula of employment contracts that has left low-paid migrant staff vulnerable. Australia’s most populous state of the moment, Victoria, has reduced the staffing capacity of slaughterhouses to enforce strict spacing requirements. the federal government has established protection rules, unions have said they are not strong enough.
Meanwhile, the United States has not yet imposed mandatory protective measures on meat packers to involve infections, issuing only voluntary guidelines, and federal subpoenas that oppose primary meat processors resulted in fines of less than $16,000, which worker advocates say are negligible. At the same time, an executive order through Donald Trump has allowed factories to operate at full capacity since last April.
America’s reaction “was a disaster,” said James Ritchie, undersecretary of the Geneva-based International Food, Agriculture, Hospitality, Restaurant, Tobacco, and Related Sectors Union.
Trump’s order is “frankly dangerous” because he didn’t come with any U. S. federal firm that issued enforceable security rules, Ritchie said.
Coronavirus infections spread among U. S. meat personnel. But it’s not the first time In March and April, which caused major services to close their doors before Trump ordered them to remain open. Since then, it is not known to what extent the virus still affects staff, as many corporations do not do so publicly. reveal new cases. A table of local news reports through Food
Evidence indicates that the virus spreads through the air, with an initial examination in Germany that it appears that debris can jump more than 8 meters (26 feet) into slaughterhouses where bloodless temperatures and poor ventilation put staff at risk. universal slowdown of production lines.
Company measures
While corporations have taken their own security measures, adding the installation of Plexiglas barriers and the issuance of protective gear, the US federal government has never stepped in to create enforceable protocols. This month, US regulators issued their first sanctions against meat packers in connection with the epidemics. Inc. fined $ 13,494 and JBS SA $ 15,615, sparking outrage from two senators, a former security official and a primary national union for being inappropriate.
The next sunflower check to determine the extent to which the virus is controlled in U. S. meat plants. But it’s not the first time It’s likely to happen in the coming months, as the weather gets colder, which can cause infections to spread more temporarily and the era will also match the annual flu. epidemic sweeping through the northern hemisphere.
Unlike the United States, German and Australian regulators intervened with stricter measures for meat staff, even though countries faced smaller epidemics. Germany’s Agriculture Minister Julia Kloeckner has even called for increased food charges to ease pressure on producers.
“Lately we are experiencing a dynamic, an opportunity to readjust the meat industry,” Kloeckner said in comments emailed to Bloomberg. “That’s what we’re addressing. “
Here’s how policies are taking shape:
Us.
The United States may still be able to impose more protection regulations while Congressional leaders negotiate a comprehensive coronavirus relief program. propagation of Covid in the workplace, adding meat factories. Senate Republicans have resisted the decision, and Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell is trying to introduce a provision that grants immunity to companies for virus-related lawsuits.
Meat and poultry corporations “have voluntarily followed government recommendations and more to employees,” the North American Meat Institute said in a statement emailed.
The union lobbying efforts that come with Covid’s mandatory security measures are “a difficult battle,” said Rebecca Reindel, director of occupational protection and fitness for the AFL-CIO.
Meat processing in the US is a good problem. But it’s not the first time It’s more deadly than ever, with no incentives for change
Efforts to discharge higher protection regulations are hampered as staff are minorities and immigrants who, unlike other high-risk personnel, such as doctors and hospital staff, lose sight of consumers.
“They face many obstacles,” Reindel said. You have a lot of color staff. You have a lot of immigrant staff. There are many who know their physical condition and their rights of protection. “
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the federal firm that is a component of the Labor Decomposer and has the authority to regulate situations in meat plants, is committed to protecting U. S. personnel from the pandemic, a Decomposing spokesman said in an email response, referring to the company’s voluntary protection guidelines, which also continues to respond and investigate the court cases it receives.
germany
In Germany, an outbreak of Covid in an abattoir infuriated 1,500 employees and closed the facility for a month from mid-June, attracting attention from across the continent and speeding up policy resolution to take strong action against poor operating conditions. The lines depend largely on the contracted staff corps of Eastern Europe, a practice that the government is ending lately, said Johannes Specht, head of collective bargaining at the German NGG union.
The German cupboard approved an invoice at the end of July to ban transit workers in meat factories.
The new bill to finish the contracted staff will give “a clear responsibility for the phantom trading tricks,” said Kloeckner, Minister of Agriculture.
It also needs to move from a formula to a few giant centralized processors and advertise smaller regional slaughterhouses and butchers. Rising meat costs can only help stable situations, shorten shipping times to processors, and enable fair operating situations and sustainable gains for farmers,” he said.
Australia
The Australian state of Victoria has been most affected by a new wave of virus cases, which has led to a month-long shutdown for its more than five million residents.
Meat processing plants have been guilty of some of the state’s largest virus computers and more than a dozen services have been forced to temporarily shut down. In August, the state government reduced the staffing capacity of slaughterhouses and processors and imposed strict spacing, hygiene and fitness measures, as a component of broader restrictions to curb network transmission.
The JBS meat giant has shut down the state’s largest processing facility until network transmission is under control, saying it could work in the existing environment.
The state government also billed staff who had to miss shifts to isolate themselves after a coronavirus check, and those who had to take a break after positive control if they did not have to take paid leave.
brazil
In Brazil, the world’s largest exporter of poultry and beef, the federal government has established safety mandates, adding a minimum distance of 1 meter (3. 3 feet) among workers, or less if workers have sufficiently good protective equipment.
Although this is even stricter than the United States, which has only voluntary guidelines, Brazilian union leaders have said that the country’s measures are still inadequate for employee protection. The country’s industry unions estimated, based on surveys of local members, that about 20% of Brazilian meat workers, or about 100,000 people, were inflamed with Covid-19.
Some local governments, adding poultry and red meat production centers such as the states of Rio Grande do Sul and Paraná, have established their own rules for meat processing plants during the pandemic, with criteria higher than federal rules, but other states, adding the largest beef manufacturer Mato Grosso, have not issued resolutions, leaving national standards as the only protocols.
In many places, “abattoirs have government approval to paint without prioritizing the safety of painters,” said Artur Bueno, president of the national CNTA union, which represents painters in the food industry.
Megan Durisin and Tatiana Freitas.
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