HAZLETON, Pa. – The Keystone State of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1776 represents 800 of Cargill’s employees at its Hazleton facility. Union President Wendell Young says the meat-packing plant is packed itself.
“It’s a crowded place, with that many people under one roof. It’s an assembly line kind of work. It’s very difficult and challenging work and it’s the kind of work where people work very closely together,” said Young.
164 employees, as of Thursday, are being treated for coronavirus symptoms. Young attributes the outbreak to a vulnerable location.
“There’s a regional problem in that area,” said Young.
He says some workers travel from heavily affected areas like the Poconos, Northern New Jersey and New York.
“There’s no escaping it whether it’s our members at Cargill or other facilities,” said Young.
Young says Cargill Protein has been using best practices from the early stages of the pandemic and yet the virus still struck.
“We have a very high risk essential workforce right now,” said Young.
Cargill President Jon Nash says the facility will reopen once it’s safe. Until then, the union says it hopes to put effective social distancing guidelines in place, get protective gear and medically check employees before they return to work.
“Our members are eager to get back to work but we want to do it safely,” said Young.
Local 1776
Huh
This is getting real , there been over 10 big slaughter house in one day go down . Food about to get harder to get . War here
They were all illegals and were shipped back to Mexico, so this rubbish can’t be proven.
I haven’t heard any of this shit from other drivers, meat packing plants might be closing because all restaurants are closed yes.
As far as I can tell, all is normal, all of these lies are obviously meant to scare people.
Same thing in Canada –
Union says 38 confirmed COVID-19 cases at Cargill meat plant cause for closure
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/cargill-meat-plant-union-covid-19-1.5530836