Скачать или смотреть Union rep fears bureaucracy may harm food workers

(29 Apr 2020) A representative for the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), America's largest meatpacking union, worries that bureaucracy could hinder workers access to protective personal equipment.
"I think our biggest fear right now is that we can't get the PPE that we need and we can't get the testing and not because it's not available. It's because there's too much bureaucracy in the way," said ) Mark Lauritsen, UFCW's International VP for Meatpacking.
He also says that President Donald Trump "made up an executive order and didn't think about how it was going to be implemented."
Trump took executive action Tuesday to order meat processing plants to stay open amid concerns over growing coronavirus cases  and the impact on the nation's food supply.
The order uses the Defense Production Act to classify meat processing as critical infrastructure to try to prevent a shortage of chicken, pork and other meat on supermarket shelves.
Unions fired back, saying the White House was jeopardizing lives and prioritizing cold cuts over workers' health.
More than 20 meatpacking plants have closed temporarily under pressure from local authorities and their own workers because of the virus, including two of the nation's largest, one in Iowa and one in South Dakota. Others have slowed production as workers have fallen ill or stayed home to avoid getting sick.
The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, which represents 1.3 million food and retail workers, said Tuesday that 20 food-processing and meatpacking union workers in the U.S. have died of the virus. An estimated 6,500 are sick or have been exposed while working near someone who tested positive, the union says.

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