The threat of a food chain disruption for our national meat industry has been solved, as declared by our President, by defining these workers as “essential.” Or are they?
Over 4,900 meat packing employees nationwide are currently COVID-19 infected, and many others are staying home. Requiring our local poultry workers to go to work in unsafe conditions furthers the sense that these workers are not essential, but rather are disposable.
Many of our local poultry workers are from immigrant families, whose welfare and pay scale are not the highest priority. Consequently, they are suffering medical, housing and living expenses, while many will not even receive the Federal COVID-19 support checks, when many of their children are American citizens.
If you want to help many of our local immigrant poultry workers with essential expenses, “pass forward” your COVID-19 check to the New Bridges immigrant relief fund, www.newbridgesirc.org.