Worker advocates file meat plants discrimination complaint

Several worker advocacy organizations have filed a civil rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Agriculture alleging that meat processing companies Tyson and JBS have engaged in racial discrimination during the coronavirus pandemic.

The complaint filed Wednesday alleges the companies adopted polices that violate a section of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which protects individuals from racial discrimination by recipients of federal financial assistance.

Tyson has received more than $109 million from USDA programs this year and JBS more than $45 million, the complaint said. As recipients of federal taxpayer dollars they are required to comply with federal laws.

“When they took that money, they knew at that point that they would be held accountable to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but they continued to violate that act," said Joe Henry, director of Forward Latino, one of the groups filing the complaint. Others include the Food Chain Workers Alliance, HEAL Food Alliance, American Friends Service Committee of Iowa and the Idaho Organization of Resource Councils.

Coronavirus infections were first reported in meatpacking plants in March and since then at least 32,151 COVID-19 cases have been confirmed among workers in 291 plants and at least 122 meatpacking workers have died, the complaint said.

A CDC report released Tuesday found 87% of those coronavirus cases occurred among racial and ethnic minorities even though they make up 61% of the worker population.

After the outbreaks were uncovered, meatpacking plants began providing workers with face coverings, installed shields between work stations and implemented new procedures for distancing during breaks, but they declined to adopt other U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations for keeping people at least 6 feet apart. The companies also...