Federal Inspectors Decry Lack of Transparency on Meat Plant Coronavirus Outbreaks
Source: GovExec.com
By Eric Katz, Govexec.com
Federal meat and poultry inspectors are raising concerns about a lack of transparency surrounding the safety of the processing plants where they work, saying local leaders are withholding information relating to the spread of the novel coronavirus at facilities.
The frustration comes as companies are starting to reopen facilities around the country after President Trump issued an executive order seeking to compel a reversal at those that had shuttered their doors due to COVID-19 outbreaks. Employees said the agency has ceased answering their questions and responding to concerns, and state officials have stopped providing information regarding employee safety.
The American Federation of Government Employees, which represents 6,500 Food Safety Inspection Service employees at the Agriculture Department, specifically cited Gov. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., for his administration’s decision to no longer provide data of infection rates at specific food processing plants. At many communities with large meat processing facilities, coronavirus outbreaks have traced back almost entirely to the plants. The trend has led to facility closures or shift reductions, and thousands of plant employees and hundreds of federal inspectors contracting the virus. Without the data, the union said, employees and inspectors cannot take proper precautions.
“Hiding the number of infections from the public doesn't make the infections go away,” said Gregg James, vice president of the AFGE council that includes Nebraska inspectors. “If anything, it encourages this deadly virus to spread further by giving people a false sense of security.”
Read more: https://www.govexec.com/workforce/2020/05/federal-inspectors-decry-lack-transparency-meat-plant-coronavirus-outbreaks/165451/
Now USDA Management is sending meat inspectors blind into plants that some have never worked in before, without letting them know just how bad it is inside. Inspectors are NOT happy about this- but the only thing they can do is shine the light on government hiding the numbers of infected. Hey- would some reporters please file FOIA asking how many are reporting Sick, and what plants have sick Fed inspectors ? Then publish the data?
So far, more than 200 of my fellow USDA Federal Meat Inspectors have caught Covid-19, and 5 have died. Now they are hiding which plants have current infections going out of control, so that they can put out as much product before the plants collapse from sick workers. Federal Inspectors can’t refuse to work, or else they will get fired.
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