Workers at a Smithfield Foods pork plant in Milan, Missouri, say that for years they have endured repetitive stress injuries on the meat processing line -- and urinary tract infections because they had so few bathroom breaks.But as the coronavirus pandemic has emerged, workers say they have encountered
Workers at a Smithfield Foods pork plant in Milan, Missouri, say that for years they have endured repetitive stress injuries on the meat processing line — and urinary tract infections because they had so few bathroom breaks.
Coronavirus infections have emerged as a significant problem at meatpacking plants around the country, with some closing and many others operating well below capacity. At least 10 workers in meatpacking and three workers in food processing have died of COVID-19, leaders of the United Food and Commercial Workers union said Thursday. About 6,500 employees either have contracted the virus, missed work because they had to self-quarantine or are waiting for tests or show symptoms, they said.
Story continuesFuentes said that some workers at the plant had shown symptoms like cough and fever but that few, if any, had been tested. Beyond seeking to make workers safer, the complaint about the plant in Milan is testing whether public nuisance law dating back hundreds of years can be used to protect workers on the job. The plaintiffs argue that Smithfield, by failing to take adequate safety measures, risks a coronavirus outbreak that could quickly spread to the entire community.
Thomas McGarity, a professor at the University of Texas Law School, said the public nuisance doctrine had been successfully applied more recently in environmental cases, including those in which animal runoff or chemicals had polluted the local water supply. He said nuisance cases involving pathogens had historically been successful as well, though they typically involved pathogens that could be spread through insects or other animals.
Fuentes, director of the local alliance, said that before the pandemic, the question of bathroom breaks had been a top concern of workers.
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