Chairman Clyburn’s Opening Remarks At Hearing On The Impact Of The Coronavirus On Meatpacking Workers Nationwide
Washington, D.C. (October 27, 2021) - Today, Rep. James E. Clyburn, Chairman of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, delivered the following opening statement at today's hybrid hearing assessing the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on meatpacking plant workers, their families, and communities nationwide.
Ahead of the hearing, the Select Subcommittee released a staff memorandum showing that the number of coronavirus infections and deaths at the nation's five largest meatpacking conglomerates were nearly three times higher than previously reported, and that company executives prioritized profits and production over worker safety.
Remarks As Delivered
America's essential workers have suffered a terrible toll from the coronavirus pandemic, risking their health and even giving their lives to do the jobs that needed to be done and couldn't be done remotely. Perhaps no essential workers have been struck as hard as those in the meatpacking industry.
With long shifts, enclosed workspaces, and crowded conditions, meatpacking plants presented a perfect storm for the coronavirus to spread. It became clear in the first weeks of the pandemic that this critical industry would be hit particularly hard.
But until now, we have not had a full sense of how hard meatpacking workers were hit. Most meatpacking companies refused to publicly disclose the full numbers of infections and deaths tied to their plants. This refusal kept workers, their communities, policymakers, and health officials in the dark about the threats to workers and their communities.
The Select Subcommittee has been investigating the five largest meatpacking companies to discover the true toll. What we have learned is staggering. A Select Subcommittee staff memorandum released earlier today shows that the true impact of the coronavirus on meatpacking workers at these five companies was close to three times as bad as what was previously known.
Before today, it was estimated that just over 20,000 of the meatpacking workers employed by the five largest meatpacking companies were infected with the coronavirus. The Select Subcommittee's investigation found the true number to be nearly 60,000.
Before today, it was also estimated that fewer than 100 workers at these five companies had died. The Select Subcommittee's investigation found the true number to be more than 250. Nearly 60,000 cases, and more than 250 deaths—just at these five companies.
These infections disproportionately impacted communities of color. A 2020 CDC study found that 87% of workers at meat processing plants infected with the coronavirus were racial or ethnic minorities.
Knowing the true scale of these outbreaks is important not just to understanding what happened to those working in the plants. Outbreaks in meatpacking plants were also drivers of the spread of the virus in their wider communities, leading to additional infections and deaths among those who never set foot in a facility.
Meatpacking companies had a responsibility to do everything they could to keep their workers safe, and these statistics make clear that they fell short.
When the pandemic began, meatpacking companies were too slow to respond to worker demands for safer conditions. While workers fought for greater protections, the large meatpacking conglomerates focused on protecting their profits. The National Economic Council recently found that meat processors have generated record profits during the pandemic, at the expense of consumers, farmers, and ranchers.
Gross profits for some of the leading beef, poultry, and pork processors have been at record high levels. These sky-high profits have come at a time when consumers have been paying more to put food on the table and workers have risked their health and safety.
Just as troublingly, our investigation found that that the Trump Administration's response to the outbreaks in meatpacking plants was wholly insufficient. The federal agencies that had a duty to protect workers last year failed to do so. Under the Trump Administration, OSHA issued only eight citations and less than $80,000 in penalties against these companies, despite the infection of tens of thousands of meatpacking workers and the deaths of hundreds. Had the Trump Administration acted, these numbers could have been lower.
OSHA officials recently told the Select Subcommittee that they were limited in their ability to protect meatpacking workers last year because Trump Administration appointees made a—and I quote—"political decision" not to seek additional authorities that would have allowed the agency to enforce coronavirus safety protocols more forcefully. This is unacceptable.
Any argument that these deadly risks to meatpacking workers were necessary to keep food on the tables of American families is dangerous and wrong. We can and we must both keep families fed and keep workers safe. The Biden Administration has stepped up to fight for these workers by strengthening federal enforcement of worker protections, leading an aggressive national vaccine campaign, and—with funds appropriated by Congress—providing up to $600 per worker in relief payments directly to frontline farmworkers and meatpacking workers who incurred expenses preparing for, preventing exposure to, and responding to the pandemic.
Meatpackers and other essential workers are the foundation of this country. We must get a full accounting of what happened to them during the coronavirus pandemic so we can learn from these failures to prevent a tragedy like this from ever happening again.
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