(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – JBS, the Mega Giant Meatpacking Company, has received only a slap on the wrist for exposing Workers at seven of its plants to the deadly Coronavirus.

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and JBS reached a settlement at the end of May on the firm’s actions exposing Workers to the pathogen in its plants.

The settlement, which the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Union will help enforce, goes in a good direction, however, by mandating JBS develop and implement “an infectious disease preparedness plan.”

The fine the company must pay, however, is only a slap on the wrist for a wealthy entity like JBS - just $14,502.00

UFCW had no immediate comment on the settlement or its role monitoring Anti-Coronavirus measures at Pork and Beef Plants in Greeley, Colorado, Beardstown, Illinois, Grand Island and Omaha, Nebraska, Cactus, Texas, Souderton, Pennsylvania, and Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Problems continue at JBS, though, OSHA records show.

The inspections were for Coronavirus exposure in 2020.

Since then, it’s been a different story at JBS - No Coronavirus violations, but quite a few others - including a fatal accident in March 2021 at Grand Island.

To battle the virus, OSHA and the UFCW will recommend a team of company and independent experts to develop and implement the plans.

The team will review JBS’s current safety and health plans and procedures.

It will recommend engineering and work practice changes - such as visitor and Employee screening, better ventilation and frequent cleaning - to prevent virus spread and identify and stock Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).

OSHA went after JBS after Coronavirus outbreaks in Greeley, shutting it down on April 13th, 2020, and Green Bay, shutting it down on April 26th.

Both plants closed for two weeks for disinfection.

Five Greeley Workers died, 51 were hospitalized and 290 tested positive for the virus.

Two Workers died in Green Bay and 147 tested positive on April 22nd, four days before the OSHA-ordered shutdown.

Green Bay’s positive case toll was 357, as of late August 2020.

OSHA’s settlement with the Meatpacker occurred two weeks after the House Oversight Committee released an extensive report detailing how meatpacking executives successfully lobbied the Republican Trump regime to declare Meat Plant Workers “Essential,” forcing them to stay on the job even when their bosses didn’t protect them.

The panel concluded the meatpacking honchos and their lobbyists almost literally wrote Oval Office occupant Donald Trump’s “Essential Workers” Executive Order.

That Trump manipulation angered UFCW President Marc Perrone, whose Union includes 250,000 Meat Packing Plant Workers.

“We already knew the Trump Administration’s negligence and unethical actions endangered Meatpacking Workers and their families at the height of the pandemic,” he said. “UFCW repeatedly sounded the alarm about failed oversight of the industry and its inability to protect the people that kept food on our tables.  Their failure was not only tragic, but a deliberate attempt to put industry profits ahead of people just trying to make a living.”

Perrone said the UFCW would work with lawmakers to approve “a comprehensive Meat Processing Safety Bill.”

To Continue Reading This Labor News Report, Go To: www.peoplesworld.org/article/osha-gives-giant-coronavirus-spreading-meatpacker-jbs-slap-on-the-wrist/