After Hundreds of Meatpacking Workers Died From COVID-19, Congress Wants Answers
A key House subcommittee cited reports by ProPublica and other news outlets in launching an investigation into how the country’s meatpacking companies handled the pandemic, which has killed hundreds of workers to date.
by Bernice Yeung and Michael Grabell Feb. 4, 5 a.m. EST
A key congressional panel launched an investigation this week into the wave of COVID-19 infections that killed hundreds of workers at meatpacking plants nationwide last year and highlighted longstanding hazards in the industry.
Since the start of the pandemic, the meat industry has struggled to contain the virus in its facilities, and plants in Iowa, South Dakota and Kansas have endured some of the biggest workplace outbreaks in the country.
The meat companies’ employees, many of them immigrants and refugees, slice pig bellies or cut up chicken carcasses in close quarters. Many of them don’t speak English and aren’t granted paid sick leave. To date, more than 50,000 meatpacking workers have been infected and at least 250 have died, according to a ProPublica tally.
https://www.propublica.org/article/after-hundreds-of-meatpacking-workers-died-from-covid-19-congress-wants-answers
And this is what makes this country safe, when you have oversight that is properly done instead of the dog a pony shows that republicans always bring out.........
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illegal immigration they would start with placing substantial fines on employers who hire them. Agribusiness has a long history of hiring them. The say it’s due to a lack of American labor willing to do the job. I don’t believe them. Legal employees would report them for safety infractions and they would have to comply with regs. Might actually cost them a couple of dollars and we can’t have that can we. 
