United Food and Commercial Workers
FILE - In this May 20, 2020, file photo, residents cheer and hold thank you signs to greet employees of a Smithfield pork processing plant as they begin their shift in Sioux Falls, S.D. Workers at the South Dakota meatpacking plant that became a coronavirus hotspot last year are considering a strike after contract negotiations between Smithfield Foods and the union have stalled, the union said Wednesday, June 2, 2021. (AP Photo/Stephen Groves, File)
Union vote authorizes strike at South Dakota pork plant

By Stephen Groves Jun. 08, 2021 06:00 PM EDT

Employees of a Smithfield pork processing plant register to vote Thursday, June 3, 2021, on a contract offer from the company at the union's office in Sioux Falls, S.D. The union voted overwhelmingly against it, escalating labor negotiations. (AP Photo/Stephen Groves)
Labor negotiations escalate at South Dakota pork plant

By Stephen Groves Jun. 04, 2021 02:50 PM EDT

FILE - In this May 20, 2020, file photo, residents cheer and hold thank you signs to greet employees of a Smithfield pork processing plant as they begin their shift in Sioux Falls, S.D. Workers at the South Dakota meatpacking plant that became a coronavirus hotspot last year are considering a strike after contract negotiations between Smithfield Foods and the union have stalled, the union said Wednesday, June 2, 2021. (AP Photo/Stephen Groves, File)
Union considers strike at meat plant that was virus hotspot

By Stephen Groves Jun. 02, 2021 04:57 PM EDT

FILE - This April 8, 2020, file photo shows the Smithfield pork processing plant in Sioux Falls, S.D. A group representing pork producers urged the federal government Tuesday, May 25, 2021, to let them continue an effort to speed up the processing of pigs into bacon and ham despite a union's claim that the increased volume endangers workers. (AP Photo/Stephen Groves, File)
Pork group asks USDA to support faster slaughterhouse speeds

By David Pitt May. 25, 2021 01:17 PM EDT

JBS meatpacking plant workers get COVID-19 vaccine shots

Mar. 05, 2021 05:17 PM EST
GREELEY, Colo. (AP) — A Colorado meatpacking plant that saw a deadly coronavirus outbreak last year suspended operations Friday so that workers could receive...

FILE - In this Feb. 3, 2021, file photo, a Tyson Foods team member receives a COVID-19 vaccine at meatpacking plant in Wilkesboro, N.C. Meatpacking workers have started receiving coronavirus vaccines and thousands more will have a chance to get their first shots this week, offering some peace of mind in an industry that was ravaged by COVID-19 a year ago. (Melissa Melvin/AP Images for Tyson Foods, File)
Thousands of meatpacking workers to be vaccinated this week

By Josh Funk Mar. 01, 2021 05:23 PM EST

In this Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021 photo, Lidl grocery market supervisor Joseph Lupo pauses in an aisle at the store where he works in Lake Grove, N.Y., after getting the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine earlier in the day. Nearly two months after the U.S. began its COVID-19 vaccination drive, many grocery workers are still waiting their turn. At least 11 states are not prioritizing grocery workers at all, while many others have bumped them down in favor of people 65 and older, an effort to speed up the vaccination drive. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)
Vaccine delays leave grocery workers feeling expendable

By Alexandra Olson, Dee-Ann Durbin And Anne D'innocenzio Feb. 16, 2021 12:44 AM EST

FILE - In this May 1, 2020, file photo, a sign sits in front of the Tyson Foods plant in Waterloo, Iowa. Hundreds of meatpacking workers have been vaccinated against the coronavirus but the union that represents them says several hundred thousand more have not, despite the risks they continue to face at work. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)
Union says meatpacking workers should be vaccinated sooner

By Josh Funk Feb. 13, 2021 09:08 AM EST

This May 20, 2020, photo provided by Smithfield Foods shows some of the measures the company says it has taken to limit the spread of the coronavirus inside its plants. Workers inside its Sioux Falls, South Dakota, pork processing plant wear protective gear and are separated by plastic partitions as they carve up meat. (Photo courtesy Smithfield Foods via AP)
US plants hope to maintain production despite virus threat

By Josh Funk And Tom Krisher Dec. 25, 2020 10:17 AM EST

Cal/Osha fines Farmer John for hundreds of COVID-19 cases

By John Rogers Nov. 16, 2020 05:13 PM EST
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Southern California's huge Farmer John meatpacking plant on the edge of Los Angeles has been assessed more than $58,000 for safety...

FILE - In this April 8, 2020, file photo, a truck bearing Weld County insignia sits outside the administrative office entrance at JBS USA in Greeley, Colo. A union representing workers at a JBS USA meatpacking plant in Colorado where six workers have died of the coronavirus and hundreds more were infected is protesting a $15,615 fine against the company for failing to provide safe working conditions at the plant in Greeley. The United Food and Commercial Workers Union says JBS failed to protect workers from getting sick and didn't compensate them for working under the risk of contracting COVID-19. (Alex McIntyre/The Greeley Tribune via AP, File)
Colorado workers protest COVID-19 fine issued to meat plant

By Patty Nieberg Sep. 16, 2020 06:39 PM EDT

FILE - In this May 20, 2020, file photo, residents cheer and hold thank you signs to greet employees of a Smithfield pork processing plant as they begin their shift in Sioux Falls, S.D. Federal regulators said Thursday, Sept. 10, 2020, they have cited Smithfield Foods for failing to protect employees from exposure to the coronavirus at the company's Sioux Falls plant, an early hot spot for virus infections that hobbled American meatpacking plants. (AP Photo/Stephen Groves, File)
Smithfield Foods pork plant faces OSHA fine from outbreak

By Stephen Groves Sep. 10, 2020 04:42 PM EDT

FILE - In this May 7, 2020, file photo, workers enter and leave the Tyson Foods pork processing plant in Logansport, Ind. Tyson Foods is planning to open medical clinics at several of its U.S. plants to improve the health of workers at the same time it is under pressure to better protect them from the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy, File)
Tyson Foods to open medical clinics at some meat plants

By Josh Funk Sep. 03, 2020 07:08 AM EDT

FILE - In this Jan. 29, 2006, file photo, a car passes in front of a Tyson Foods Inc., sign at Tyson headquarters in Springdale, Ark. Tyson Foods plans to administer thousands of coronavirus tests per week at its U.S. facilities under an expanded effort to protect workers and keep plants running. The Springdale, Arkansas-based company, which processes about 20% of all beef, pork and chicken in the U.S., on Wednesday, July 29, 2020, said it will randomly test employees who have no symptoms as well as those with symptoms (AP Photo/April L. Brown, File)
Tyson Foods to increase virus testing in US meat plants

By Dee-Ann Durbin Jul. 30, 2020 07:00 AM EDT

FILE - In this Jan. 29, 2006, file photo, a car passes in front of a sign at Tyson headquarters in Springdale, Ark. The union representing workers at poultry processing plants sued the federal government on Tuesday, July, 28, 2020, to challenge a new rule that allows companies to increase line speeds through a waiver permitted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union and local unions representing plants in Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi and Missouri joined with nonprofit consumer advocacy group Public Citizen to file the lawsuit in federal court in Washington. (AP Photo/April L. Brown, File)
Unions sue USDA over faster chicken plant production speeds

By David Pitt Jul. 28, 2020 01:42 PM EDT

Meatpacking union: 44 COVID-19 deaths among workers

May. 28, 2020 05:44 PM EDT
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — At least 44 meatpacking workers in the U.S. have died from the new coronavirus and another 3,000 have tested positive, according to an...

Members and supporters of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union take part in a protest outside the Fred Meyer grocery store in Burien, Wash., against Fred Meyer's parent company Kroger, Friday, May 15, 2020. Kroger officials have said they are ending the additional $2 hourly "hero pay" bonus that had been paid to workers since late March during the coronavirus pandemic. The company said Friday it will now offer one-time bonus payments of $400 and $200 for full- and part-time employees to be paid in two installments. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
Kroger offers Fred Meyer workers extra pay after outcry

May. 15, 2020 08:20 PM EDT

FILE - This April 8, 2020 file photo, shows the Smithfield pork processing plant in Sioux Falls, S.D. The union representing employees at the South Dakota pork processing plant says it will partially reopen on Monday, May 4, 2020, after shuttering more than two weeks ago because of a coronavirus outbreak that infected hundreds of employees. (AP Photo/Stephen Groves File)
Some meat plants reopen, but Trump order may not be cure-all

By Stephen Groves May. 01, 2020 05:10 PM EDT

President Donald Trump listens during a meeting with Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., on the coronavirus response, in the Oval Office of the White House, Tuesday, April 28, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Trump orders meat processing plants to remain open

By Jill Colvin Apr. 28, 2020 02:24 PM EDT

The Smithfield pork processing plant in Sioux Falls, S.D., is seen Wednesday, April 8, 2020, where health officials reported more than 80 employees have confirmed cases of the coronavirus (AP Photo/Stephen Groves)
South Dakota pork plant sees rash of COVID-19 cases

By Stephen Groves Apr. 08, 2020 08:09 PM EDT