Why do Meat Plants need the president to declare the Defense Production Act to open?

[spanone]

Were they closed down by an outside force?
They closed down because the companies have sick workers....how will the DPA help?
Will the government force sick workers to work??

Trump wants to keep open meat plants, many of which are virus hot spots.

President Trump on Tuesday declared meat processing plants “critical infrastructure,” in an effort to ensure that facilities around the country remained open as the government tried to prevent looming shortages of pork, chicken and other products as a result of the coronavirus.

The action comes as meat plants around the country have turned into coronavirus hot spots, sickening thousands of workers, and after the head of Tyson Foods, one of the country’s largest processors, warned that millions of pounds of meat would simply disappear from the supply chain.

In an executive order issued late Tuesday, Mr. Trump said recent closures of meat processing facilities “threaten the continued functioning of the national meat and poultry supply chain, undermining critical infrastructure during the national emergency.”

The president said his administration would “take all appropriate action” to ensure that meat and poultry processors “continue operations” consistent with federal health and workplace safety guidance.

-paywall- https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/28/us/coronavirus-updates.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage#link-7d16671a

[tulipsandroses]

1. To keep his rich donors in business. The workers will get the short end of the stick

I hope they all plan to strike and get support from the community and no one crosses the line to work if the conditions are unsafe. They have no recourse if they go to work and get sick. Its outrageous.

[global1]

5. If An Illinois Downstate Repug Can Sue The Illinois Governor For Violating His Rights.....

by extending the stay-at-home orders till the end of May why can't employees of these meat plants sue Trump for putting their lives in peril by forcing them to work in these infected plants in the specter of the coronavirus?

[global1]

2. He Wouldn't Invoke DPA For Ventilators, PPE, Tests Or Masks Cause....

such items only supported the health professionals who work trying to save lives of virus inflicted Americans.

Invoking DPA for these meat plants is important to him because they are critical to bringing back the economy which he believes will help him get re-elected.

This decision was simply an easy political decision for him to make - because to him it is personal.

[Marrah_Goodman]

3. Trump is afraid meat shortages will enrage his base.

[captain queeg]

4. Maybe because his base are big meat eaters?

I’ve got nothing against eating meat, I just don’t eat much. The only meat I’ve had since the pandemic started is a half a bag of jerky and 3 or 4 pizzas. I can certainly do without. I guess your average Bubba can’t.

[msongs]

6. cuz they are in red states run by republicans who want to exploit cheap lbor? nt

[Totally Tunsie]

7. Of course he wants the meat plants open.

How else would he get his McDonald's burger if they close the plants?

[jberryhill]

8. The point is this...

The plants are closed because they cannot operate safely, and if the owners were to reopen them, they would be liable to their employees for having them work in unsafe conditions.

If the plants were somehow (and I'll get to that in a minute) "forced" to be open, then the owners could not be held liable if it was not up to them to open.

But, you'll notice the weasel wording of "take all appropriate action". The reason is that the president cannot actually "order" jack shit here, per Youngstown Sheet & Tube v. Sawyer.

[TreasonousBastard]

9. Primarily because this will insulate them from some lawsuits, strikes, and other nasty things...

Besides, just killing millions of pigs without making tons of bacon, ribs, and sausage would be a crime in itself.

[Jamastiene]

13. Many farmers are already talking about doing just that, just killing the animals.

Some already have killed millions of chickens down south. The way things are being handled is ridiculous.

[Jamastiene]

10. The DPA would provide them with PPE to work and not have such horrible outbreaks like at Smithfield.

Check out what happened at Smithfield. They had the worst cluster of cases imaginable. They did not provide their workers with PPE. If Trump had bothered to sign the DPA, more PPE could have been made and that would not have happened at Smithfield.

Now, most grocery stores and no longer carrying Smithfield brands because of the outbreak. Smithfield brands include Smithfield, Armour, Gwaltney and others I don't use and cannot remember.

In any case, with shortages of everything imaginable right now, including PPE that will mostly be prioritized to REPUBLICAN led ONLY states (except in cases where Democratic governors can kiss Trump's ass just the right way, which must be most of them other than the three we heard about) for hospitals first.

If he would sign a DPA, they could rush manufacture more PPE and people wouldn't be dying in hospitals and those outside of hospitals who are considered "essential" like food manufacturers would not be out there working with NO PPE and getting sick.

They could hire new workers who are not sick, most likely, depending on the state, if only Trump would get off his sorry ass and sign a DPA. Hospital workers wouldn't keep getting sick either, if only Trump would get off his sorry ass and sign a DPA. It's all about getting Trump off his drugs long enough and pointing him to pens and kissing his ass the right way to get him to sign a damn DPA. Sorry for the language, but the man is as sorry as they come and the reason hospital workers are getting sick too. He is also the reason so many have died when they needed ventilators. He wouldn't even lift a pen to do a DPA for those either.

[Generic Brad]

11. Trump wants his cheeseburgers

He is a malignant narcissist. Everything is about him. A meat shortage would directly affect him, so he finally decided to do something.

[Sgent]

12. Using the DPA

they were essentially nationalized and exempted from all worker protection laws regarding PPE (both state and federal), as long as they abide by CDC guidelines -- which only requires voluntary compliance if practical.

[PSPS]

14. So they won't have to pay unemployment benefits. Also adds weight to insurance dodging 'act of god'

[Olafjoy]

15. He wants his steak

Well done with a side of ketchup

[Demsrule86]

16. The workers won't be able to sue the manufacturers no matter how terrible safety is...that is why.

[dawg day]

17. So much for free market free enterprise

We actually can survive without meat products (though for me, it will be hard .


Just as he declared he had to put tariffs on French wine for "national security," he's determining that he has to force meat production for war. What war, we might ask.

The virus isn't going to be killed by pork chops.

[0rganism]

18. who's he going to force to eat the meat?

seems like there's a lot of force involved on every side of this proposition

[DURHAM D]

19. Given that OSHA and CDC is committing malpractice

and not protecting the workers in rural America it seems to me that Trump is actually killing his own voters.

[Buns_of_Fire]

20. "undermining critical infrastructure?" Give me a break.

Why not issue another forbidding anyone from flushing their toilet more than once? Or using more than two (2) squares of toilet paper per session?

Just another EO that President Biden will have to rescind.