Smithfield Foods didn't want to stop slaughtering hogs at its Sioux Falls pork plant, even after hundreds of workers got sick with the coronavirus. Then the city's mayor forced the company's hand.
Employees and family members protest outside a Smithfield Foods processing plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota last week. The plant has had an outbreak of coronavirus cases.Employees and family members protest outside a Smithfield Foods processing plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota last week. The plant has had an outbreak of coronavirus cases.
TenHaken, a former marketing entrepreneur, realized in early April that his city was turning into a hot spot of the novel coronavirus pandemic. And the infection was spreading most rapidly among the 3,700 workers at a pork processing plant owned by Smithfield Foods on the banks of the Big Sioux River, just north of the city center. Most of the workers at the plant are immigrants; they speak 26 different languages."This thing jumped out of a light socket," TenHaken said.
He called the company's executives, he said, and told them,"We need to see a temporary closure, not only to calm the community, but to ensure that the safety of your employees is priority No. 1." He drafted a letter to Smithfield's CEO, calling on the company to shut the plant for at least two weeks. Before he sent it, TenHaken, a Republican, sent a copy to South Dakota's governor, Kristi Noem.
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