Worker advocacy groups accuse meatpackers of discrimination
Several worker advocacy organizations have filed a civil rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Agriculture alleging that meat processing companies Tyson and JBS have engaged in racial discrimination during the coronavirus pandemic.
The complaint filed Wednesday alleges that the companies adopted polices that violate a section of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which protects individuals from racial discrimination by recipients of federal financial assistance.
Tyson has received more than $109 million from USDA programs this year and JBS more than $45 million, the complaint said. As recipients of federal taxpayer dollars, they are required to comply with federal laws.
“When they took that money, they knew at that point that they would be held accountable to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but they continued to violate that act,” said Joe Henry, director of Forward Latino, one of the groups filing the complaint. Others include the Food Chain Workers Alliance, HEAL Food Alliance, American Friends Service Committee of Iowa and the Idaho Organization of Resource Councils.
Coronavirus infections were first reported in meatpacking plants in March. Since then, at least 32,151 COVID-19 cases have been confirmed among workers in 291 plants and at least 122 meatpacking workers have died, the complaint said.
A report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released Tuesday found that 87 percent of those coronavirus cases occurred among racial and ethnic minorities even though they make up 61 percent of the worker population.
After the outbreaks were uncovered, meatpacking plants began providing workers with face coverings, installed shields between work stations and implemented new procedures for distancing during breaks, but they declined to adopt other CDC recommendations for keeping people at least 6 feet apart. The companies also declined to initiate slower speeds on production lines or add shifts to enable social distancing, the complaint said.
The complaint alleges that the operating procedures have a disparate impact on Black, Latino and Asian workers, who make up a large share of production workers at the companies’ plants, representing a pattern or practice of racial discrimination.
Tyson spokesman Worth Sparkman said in an email that the company was still reviewing the complaint and noted that Tyson’s top priority is the health and safety of all workers, their families and the communities where plants are located. “We’ve transformed the way our plants operate to protect our team members, implementing measures such as symptom screening before every shift,” he said.
JBS and the USDA did not immediately reply to messages seeking comment.
The complaint goes to the USDA through an administrative procedure, and it will be up to Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue to decide how it’s resolved.