Meatpackers Knew Of Covid Outbreaks, Lobbied Trump To Keep Plants Open

Bloomberg: Meatpackers Ignored Covid Spread To Keep Operating, House Report Says
The nation’s biggest meatpackers ignored warnings that Covid-19 was spreading through their plants, hyped claims of impending shortages and helped draft a Trump administration order to keep the facilities running during the early days of the pandemic, a congressional investigation found. A report released Thursday by a House panel examining the nation’s pandemic response portrayed a coordinated campaign by major meatpacking companies and their Washington lobbyists to enlist senior officials of then-President Donald Trump’s administration in an effort to circumvent state and local health departments’ attempts to control the spread of the virus in meatpacking facilities. (Dorning, 5/12)

AP: Report: Trump Officials, Meat Companies Knew Workers At Risk 
During the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the meat processing industry worked closely with political appointees in the Trump administration to stave off health restrictions and keep slaughterhouses open even as the virus spread rapidly among workers, according to a congressional report released Thursday. The report by the House’s Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis said meat companies pushed to keep their plants open even though they knew workers were at high risk of catching the coronavirus. The lobbying led to health and labor officials watering down their recommendations for the industry and culminated in an executive order President Donald Trump issued in spring 2020 designating meat plants as critical infrastructure that needed to remain open. (Funk, 5/12)

The Washington Post: Meat Industry Hyped ‘Baseless’ Shortage To Keep Plants Open Amid Covid 
The biggest players in the U.S. meat industry pressed “baseless” claims of beef and pork shortages early in the pandemic to persuade the Trump White House to keep processing plants running, disregarding the coronavirus risks that eventually killed at least 269 workers, according to a special House committee investigating the nation’s pandemic response. In a report released Thursday, the committee alleges that Tyson Foods’s legal team prepared a draft with input from other companies that became the basis for an executive order to keep the plants open that the Trump administration issued in April 2020, making it difficult for workers to stay home. (Telford, 5/12)

And a lawsuit is settled over a deadly covid outbreak —

The Boston Globe: State To Pay $56 Million To Settle Lawsuit Brought By Families Of Veterans Who Got COVID-19 At Holyoke Soldiers’ Home
Governor Charlie Baker has agreed for the state to pay $56 million to the families of veterans who contracted COVID-19 at the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home in the spring of 2020 in one of the nation’s most notorious and deadly outbreaks of the virus. Families of 84 veterans who died from COVID will each receive a minimum of $400,000, with an average payment of $500,000, according to lawyers who brought the federal lawsuit in July 2020. Families of another 84 veterans who contracted COVID at the home and survived will also qualify for a payment of at least $10,000, with an average payment of $20,000. (Estes, 5/12)

AP: State Settles With Families Of Holyoke Soldiers Home Victims 
The terms of the settlement will cover veterans who lived at the facility at any time between March 1, 2020 and June 23, 2020 and who became ill or died from COVID-19 during that period. The settlement amount also covers attorneys’ fees. Gov. Charlie Baker plans to file legislation seeking $56 million for the claims fund in the coming weeks. (Pratt, 5/12)

Lawmakers want better working conditions for TSA employees —

The Hill: House Passes Bill To Improve Working Conditions For TSA Employees Despite GOP Opposition 
The House passed a bill on Thursday that seeks to improve working conditions for employees of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). The bill, dubbed the Rights for the TSA Workforce Act, passed in a 220-201 vote that mainly broke along party lines. ... “Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, TSA Transportation Security Officers have risked their health and safety to keep our skies safe. And yet, for twenty years TSOs have been unable to access the same workforce rights afforded to other Federal employees – and are among the lowest paid,” said. Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.). (Schnell, 5/12)