'These workers only signed up to process meat,' said the president of a local chapter of the United Food and Commercial Workers union. 'They didn't sign up to lose their life over this job.'
Hundreds of workers tested positive for COVID-19 at a Smithfield Foods hog-processing plant in Sioux Falls, S.D.Hundreds of workers tested positive for COVID-19 at a Smithfield Foods hog-processing plant in Sioux Falls, S.D.As more businesses start to reopen and people go back to work, some companies are looking for advice on how to keep employees safe from the coronavirus.
Freeman complains the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration — the federal workplace safety agency — offered little direction about protective gear or what to do when a worker tests positive for COVID-19. That left essential businesses that kept operating during the pandemic to figure it out for themselves.
"Industry has provided that direction," Freeman said."But it remains disappointing to us that we're not seeing that same level of clarity and direction across the board from government."
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