Leave it to Orange Julius to take the Defense Protection Act and turn it into a weapon against the American Worker.
Meat packing plants are the latest hot spot on the landscape for Covid-19 infections, eclipsed only by Senior Living facilities. Thousands of people work in close proximity to each other in these plants that are typically the principle employer in their geographic area.
What happens in these plants has a direct and immediate influence on the broader community around them. Tyson, Smithfield and others have seen the virus rage through their businesses, causing literally hundreds of positive cases in each facility. Some are getting close to a thousand reported cases. It had gotten so out of hand, so uncontrollable that the processing plants had shut down, a thorough cleaning and time to formulate a strategy to move forward being deemed essential.
But hold your horses there! The President couldn’t have a shortage of meat. America isn’t America if it isn’t feasting on livestock, so he leapt into action. The approved though dormant DPA was brushed off to force these embattled businesses to open back up by Presidential decree. The DPA was sparingly used in aid to the health care community by forcing immediate action to supply the country with supplies critical to the fight against the virus. No, there was no need to use the hammer of Federal fiat to help save an innocent populace under attack. So un-American to have government forcing a business to do anything, whether it be preventing sludge being dumped where sludge should never be or making them manufacture products the nation was dependent on for survival. Who was the government to interfere wth an independent business? We aren’t China! We aren’t Russia!
Well, there are things that are worth it, things that make America America that have to be defended even at the risk of industrial autonomy. What was so critical, so fundamental to the national identity that it could overcome our fetish for independence over interdependence?
Hamburgers.
How important was a quarter-pounder? It turns out, very. As the President signed this new decree that would reopen the doors at these enormous petri dishes, it was essential to protect the workers as they reentered these dangerous incubators.
Right?
Well, yeah. It’s kinda important. If you can be safer, that would be great. The administration rolled out a plan that each plant would be wise to follow to protect the heroes returning to the front lines, but they were not requirements. Oh no. Far too invasive on capitalist independence. It was a list of helpful suggestions to help their workforce survive, but only if you can manage it. There was only one edict in the new decree.
Open no matter the cost.
The President had two imperatives he needed to address with this signing. The first was to keep meat supplies flowing, avoiding a shortage in grocery stores that would tip his hand to the public that this virus really was a serious threat to our country in a myriad of ways. As much as possible try to sell business as usual, nothing to see here. Convince the public this was all much ado about nothing. How else would they willingly put themselves at risk? The second goal was to support the money interests at all costs, even if the costs were human.
The new edict emphasized that the meat packing plants should not be held liable if death resulted from this forced labor. In some ways this is fair, as the responsibility for their deaths would rightly land squarely on the shoulders of the President, but the fact that this was one of the goals of the declaration told you everything you needed to know.
The workers would be forced back to work and they would have no recourse in the event of an unfortunate turn of events that cost them their life. The business would be held harmless. Because of the wording of the suggested adaptations provided by the Fed, not protecting the workforce in meaningful ways would not increase their liability. It would be nice, but we know it’s hard. Do your best, but send the chickens!
Oh sure. There are dozens of other examples, but it is hard to point to one that is a more transparent revelation of the existential threat Trump represents to the worker, the common man and woman, to all of us. We are collateral damage in a struggle to protect and inflate oligarchy in the United States. Once again the Administration is volunteering us to be the ones to walk toward the mushroom cloud. No requirement is placed on the companies to do this responsibly. It’s suggested, sure, but they are not required to do any of it and if they don’t no one can do a damn thing about it. They are immune from liability.
Now if only the workers were immune.