During a trip to the grocery store, browsing through the canned, meat and produce aisles, I was struck with gratitude for a state where farms and ranches abound providing access to fresh and processed meat, produce and dairy products even during a pandemic. It made me think about farm, ranch and processing plants employees and how they’re keeping themselves, their families and their communities safe during the pandemic.
Packing plants across the country have been closed amid Covid-19 outbreaks including outbreaks in South Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa. While this may seem far away, consider these facts:
- California's 77,500 farms produce more than 400 commodities, and two-thirds of the nation’s fruits and nuts.
- Furthermore, Tulare, Fresno and Kern counties each have a gross value of agricultural production over $6 billion.
- This makes food and beverage processing the third largest manufacturing sector in the state.
- Food processors alone add more than 198,000 direct full and part-time jobs to the economy and $8.2 billion in state and local tax revenues.
This is all to say, it’s vital for our economy and supply chain to adequately protect meatpacking and food processing workers. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued guidelines on April 26 including but not limited to:
- Modifying the alignment of workstations, including along processing lines, if feasible, so that workers are at least six feet apart in all directions
- Use physical barriers, such as strip curtains, plexiglass or similar materials, or other impermeable dividers or partitions, to separate workers
- Encourage single-file movement with a six-foot distance between each worker where possible
- Supplement workers’ normal job training with information about COVID-19, recognizing signs and symptoms, and ways to prevent exposure
- Screening processing workers for COVID-19 symptoms (such as temperature checks) as an optional strategy
- Stagger workers’ arrival and departure times to avoid congregations of workers in parking areas, locker rooms, and near time clocks
These folks never signed up to be considered essential workers during a pandemic and processing plants never foresaw such a devastating virus. Working together, we owe it to all of them to provide the support and solutions they need to remain a critical cog in California’s economy and the invisible hands delivering food from farms to tables.
KEEWest Associates is available to consult with human resource leads, health and safety managers, union representatives and others to ensure these workers receive effective and timely communication , so they get home safely to their families and communities. Services and ways we can help can be found here.
Also, click here if you would like to learn more about the CDC guidelines org. If you would like to take a more proactive role to help our essential workers, UFCW is working to protect the safety of members through their #ShopSmart informational campaign. Text “Shopsmart” to 23396 to take the pledge and to receive texts on the latest shopper information and what you can do to support your community’s grocery, retail, and healthcare workers.
