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Cleaver wants FEMA involved in reopening plants
A Missouri Congressman wants the Federal Emergency Management Agency involved in the reopening of meat plants.
Representative Emanuel Cleaver of Kansas City has called on FEMA to provide a plan that ensures meat plant workers can operate safely.
While Kansas City and St. Louis have seen the highest number of total cases, Cleaver says Saline County has the highest per capita rate of infection in Missouri.
Both Conagra and Cargill have meat processing plants in that county in Marshall, Missouri. Both have confirmed COVId-19 cases among workers.
He says meat plants need sufficient personal protective equipment and protocols to reduce risks for workers and rural communities where they live.
Meatpacking plants have become a major source of media attention. These facilities, which rely on workers laboring shoulder-to-shoulder with very few breaks, are naturally susceptible to outbreaks of COVID-19. Unfortunately, the companies operating many of these plants failed to properly protect their employees, and facilities all across the country have closed as a result. Meanwhile, the USDA is making things worse by allowing some plants to operate under a de-regulated system that permits them to increase their line speeds. Increased line speeds will only increase risk of injury to workers and make it more difficult for plants to maintain adequate social distance between employees. Outbreaks would still occur, and plants would still shut down. The USDA needs to immediately stop approving plants’ requests to operate at faster line speeds. Kansas City Representative, Emmanuel Cleaver, has proposed enlisting FEMA to help re-open meatpacking plants safely. Considering Rep. Cleaver recognizes the importance of worker safety, please call his office and tell him to go one step further by stopping the USDA from issuing disastrous line-speed approvals.