LISTEN/DOWNLOAD AUDIO OF PRESS CALL HERE.
GREEN BAY, Wis. — Today, Opportunity Wisconsin and Protect Our Care Wisconsin hosted a press call with Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich and local meatpacking workers to discuss the COVID-19 outbreak in Brown County and its links to area businesses. Opportunity Wisconsin and Protect Our Care were also joined on the call by Deborah Berkowitz, a former senior policy advisor at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
On Tuesday, President Donald Trump ordered meat processing plants to remain open, despite hundreds of COVID-19 cases being linked to these types of facilities across Wisconsin.
“This president gave meatpacking conglomerates legal carte blanche in the middle of a pandemic and it's reprehensible and indefensible. It’s reckless and it’s dangerous and it speaks to this president’s complete and total inability to relate to or care about regular people here in Green Bay and the state of Wisconsin and across the United States,” said Mayor Genrich. “It's offensive to those who are on the frontlines in this community - in our health systems, in our meatpacking plants, in our grocery stores - all across this community providing incredibly essential services. We are asking to have a president and administration that recognizes the gravity of this threat in Green Bay and in Wisconsin and responds appropriately.”
“The president issued an Executive Order where he created a false choice. He said there's a choice between keeping workers safe and alive and feeding America. But we can do both,” said Berkowitz. “This outbreak in meatpacking was not inevitable. It was because of a decision by all big meat companies to not implement basic guidance that the CDC issued back in March to keep everyone six feet apart and prevent the spread of COVID-19...The companies will continue to prioritize production and profits over worker safety until they are required to implement safe provisions.”
Many of these same meatpacking facilities have a long track record of repeatedly putting their workers at risk. With this order, President Trump is giving big corporations a shield from any liability, even after they caused significant COVID-19 outbreaks in the Green Bay area and across Wisconsin. To make matters worse, the Trump administration will not be requiring meat processing facilities to follow basic safety guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
“The Executive Order does not require or give authority to force plants to stay open. If the companies open up it's because they are deciding to open. If they open up without safety precautions more workers will get sick and more workers will die...The administration has completely failed and abdicated their responsibility to assure that all workers have a safe workplace,” said Berkowitz.
“Workers need to believe that President Trump has their backs, not corporations’,” said Mark Westphal, Opportunity Wisconsin steering committee member and President of the Fox Valley Area Labor Council. “The Defense Production Act has put workers in a really terrible situation. They are being forced to choose between their livelihood and their lives. The president has sided completely with corporate CEOs on this one and has pretty much told workers, ‘Hey you are on your own.’”
Raquel Sanchez Alvarado has been with Green Bay’s American Foods Group for a year and a half. Almost a month ago she came down with a bad cough, but kept going to work. A week later she tested positive for COVID-19.
“These companies must take responsibility for their workers to be safe. Some people who are positive are still going back to work, and people aren't getting tested who might be positive,” said Alvarado. “They need to do more testing. We are human beings and we deserve the same treatment as the people above us.”
Filiberto Reyes-Martinez works at the same plant and was recently suspended from work for speaking up on behalf of his coworkers and speaking out about the unsafe working conditions.
Speaking through Christine Neumann-Ortiz, Executive Director of Voces de la Frontera, Reyes-Martinez said, “As workers, it's important that we raise our voice and that we have our rights respected. To ask for personal protective equipment is nothing small - this is a way to avoid death….What happened to me is a great injustice for simply asking for PPE, because there are people who are dying. It's extremely important that companies provide equipment and safety for workers.”
According to the Green Bay Press Gazette, health officials have traced at least 189 positive cases of the virus to the JBS Packerland Plant, located in Brown County. As of April 24, “Brown County now has by far the highest rate of tests coming back positive for COVID-19 among Wisconsin’s 72 counties.” On Sunday, April 26, JBS USA Holdings, Inc. announced the temporary closure of their Green Bay facility. The outbreak is now being investigated by OSHA. “
There's very few OSHA inspectors around,” said Westphal. “It would take almost 90 years for the OSHA inspectors in Wisconsin to inspect every facility. The only way they come to a plant is if there's proof and a complaint has been filed. The only way there will be protection is through strong community support and local officials.”
This latest move from President Trump is not surprising. Over the course of his time in office, President Trump has continuously prioritized big corporations like JBS USA, over the Wisconsin workers that make these corporations run, including:
Rolling back regulations protecting meat-industry workers.
Giving JBS USA $67 million in bailout funds meant for farmers struggling in the wake of his trade war.
Allowing multinational corporations to benefit from changes to the international tax system that will cost American taxpayers $14 billion. JBS USA also benefited from the reduction in the domestic corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent.
LISTEN/DOWNLOAD AUDIO OF PRESS CALL HERE.
About Opportunity Wisconsin
Opportunity Wisconsin is a coalition of Wisconsin residents fighting for an economy that works for working people. Through our stories, we’re elevating the real consequences of the destructive economic policies championed by President Trump and his allies these past three years, and showing how they have made Wisconsin’s economy worse off. Join us in demanding our elected officials focus more on growing the economy for middle class folks and expanding opportunity for all Wisconsinites, not just the wealthy few. To learn more about Opportunity Wisconsin, visit OpportunityWisconsin.org or stay connected on Twitter at @OpportunityWI and on Facebook at Facebook.com/OpportunityWI.
About Protect Our Care
Protect Our Care is leading the fight against efforts to repeal and sabotage the Affordable Care Act while promoting access to quality, affordable coverage for all Americans.
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