Meat, farm workers to get $600 grants in new $700M aid plan

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Meatpacking workers and farm workers who were severely affected by the coronavirus pandemic will be eligible to get grants of up to $600 per person as part of a new $700 million aid program the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Tuesday.

Officials said the grants are meant to defray some of the costs workers bore as many of them bought their own protective equipment or took unpaid leave as the virus tore through their industries even as they were required to keep showing up for work.

“While the rest of America could work from home, these brave men and women continued to show up for work every single day to ensure that we all food on our tables that we could eat,” said Marc Perrone, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers union. “Meatpacking plants experienced some of the most deadly COVID-19 outbreaks when the pandemic first came around and there were workers that are deserving of our help, and our thanks and our support.”

Last spring, the virus tore through meatpacking plants, where workers stand shoulder-to-shoulder on production lines. The UFCW union, which represents roughly 80% of the nation's beef and pork workers and 33% of its poultry workers, estimates that at least 132 meatpacking workers died of COVID-19 and at least 22,000 workers have been infected or exposed to the virus.

At the height of the outbreaks last spring, the meat industry's production fell to about 60% of normal levels as a number of major plants were forced to close temporarily for deep cleaning and safety upgrades or were forced to work at slower speeds because of a shortage of workers.

For instance, more than 1,300 Smithfield workers were sickened and four died last year when the virus rampaged the company's Sioux Falls, South Dakota, plant. At a major...