UFCW complicity exposed in outbreak at Tyson pork plant where managers bet on infections
for information on organizing a rank-and-file safety committee at your workplace.
Since the beginning of the pandemic in March, more than 50,000 workers in the US meatpacking industry have tested positive for COVID-19 and over 250 workers have died. Though the entire industry has been a hotbed for COVID-19 infections, the situation at Tyson Food’s plant in Waterloo, Iowa has been especially alarming, with more than 1031 of the 2800 workers at the plant testing positive for COVID-19, while 6 have died.
Workers in a hog slaughter and processing plant [Credit: Wikimedia Commons]
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CHARLESTON Gov. Jim Justice said Friday that the West Virginia Board of Education was acting in the best interests of students by prohibiting counties from switching to remote learning when COVID-19 cases soar.
Speaking Friday afternoon during his coronavirus briefing at the State Capitol Building, Justice said it was important to get students back to some form of in-person learning, whether it was a full five-day experience or the hybrid-blended model where students only go on certain days.
“We can’t just go remote,” Justice said. “If that’s not good enough, then you’re on your own … the state Board of Education and Superintendent (Clayton) Burch make that call. All I can do is just say from the Governor’s standpoint, the governor’s executive order is just go to school.”
Staff writer
BRIEFING Gov. Jim Justice delivers a coronavirus update Friday at the state Capitol in Charleston. The governor defended the state Board of Education’s order prohibiting county boards from keeping classes fully remote after Tuesday. (Photo Courtesy/W.Va. Governor’s Office)
CHARLESTON Gov. Jim Justice said Friday that the West Virginia Board of Education was acting in the best interests of students by prohibiting counties from switching to remote learning as COVID-19 cases soar.
Speaking Friday during his coronavirus briefing at the State Capitol, Justice said it was important to get students back to some form of in-person learning, whether it was a full five-day experience or the hybrid-blended model where students only go on certain days.
This story was originally published on July 10, 2020. As part of MedPage Today s review of the past year s top stories, we are republishing it, along with an update on school reopenings, reviewing subsequent developments in 2020.
As school officials debate whether to reopen this fall, physicians, teachers, and a prominent ethicist markedly disagreed on whether sending children back into the classroom is safe for their communities.
Some pediatricians are driving the push to reopen, while infectious disease specialists, family physicians, and teachers appear more wary, concerned that schools could become new hotspots for the virus.
At the heart of the debate are many unanswered questions, with arguably the most important being: How often are children infected, and how contagious are their infections?
On Thursday afternoon, while the media was still fixated on the far-right spectacle at the U.S. Capitol, president-elect Joe Biden announced the last of his cabinet picks, including his choice for secretary of labor: Boston mayor Marty Walsh. Walsh, elected in 2013. He was a top choice for many national unions, including the AFL-CIO and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), both of which actively campaigned for his nomination. A long-time union member, labor leader, and state and local politician, he will bring a diversity of practical and political experience to the position, one which is often reserved for politicians, government officials, labor lawyers, and academics. Indeed, if confirmed Walsh will be the first actual labor leader serving as labor secretary since William Usery Jr. was appointed by President Ford in 1976. His background, however, in no way guarantees that he will be an advocate on behalf of working people. On the contrary, Walsh’s history as both a mayor a