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505Worked
to the Bone: COVID-19, the Agrifood Labour Force , and the Need for More…
altogether, many processing companies have been accused of ignor-
ing physical distancing protocols, ramping up production, pressur-
ing employees to return to work after they had contracted the disease,
and even offering bonus compensation for not missing shifts.8 As of
May 18, it is estimated that at least 59 workers died and more than
14,000 workers have been infected or exposed to COVID-19 in U.S.
meatpacking facilities.9 In Canada, the numbers are between 1,500 and
2,200 for workplace infections, and 5 workplace fatalities have been
reported.10 The site of the largest single outbreak of the coronavirus
in North America is a processing plant in High River, Alberta, where
949 employees tested positive for COVID-19 and 2 employees died.11
Working Hard or Hardly Working: Supply and Demand Disruptions
for Migrant Workers
Moving up the supply chain, from grocery store clerks to employees at
processing plants, the next place where COVID-19 is disrupting labour
in the agri-food sector is on the field. Due to mobility restrictions on
temporary foreign workers, there are concerns that crops will not be
8. See e.g. Joel Dryden & Sarah Rieger, “Inside the Slaughterhouse”, CBC News
(6 May 2020), online: <newsinteractives.cbc.ca/longform/cargill-covid19-out-
break>; Peter Waldman et al, “Cold, Crowded, Deadly: How U.S. Meat Plants
Became a Virus Breeding Ground”, BloombergÂ
BusinessweekÂ
(7 May 2020), online:
<bloomberg.com/news/features/2020-05-07/coronavirus-closes-meat-plants-
threatens-food-supply?srnd=premium&sref=O7tM5ow9>.
9. Leah Douglas, “Mapping Covid-19 in Meat and Food Processing Plants”
(22 April 2020, updated 18 May 2020), online: Food and Environment ReportingÂ
Network <https://thefern.org/2020/04/mapping-covid-19-in-meat-and-food-pro-
cessing-plants/>. See also “Trump Order to Re-Open 14 Meatpacking Plants Fails
to Increase Coronavirus Testing and Safety Measures Needed to Protect Food
Supply & Workers” (8 May 2020), online: United Food and Commercial WorkersÂ
Union <ufcw.org/press/>.
10. Estimates from the United Food and Commercial Workers Union are more
conservative than the numbers tracked by Factory Farm Collective, a civil
society organization advocating for the elimination of animal agriculture. See
“Help Protect Food Processing Workers! ACT NOW!” (8 May 2020), online:
United Food and Commercial Workers Canada <ufcw.ca/index.php?option=com_
content&view=article&id=32649:help-protect-food-processing-workers-act-
now&catid=10162:directions-20-036&Itemid=2468&lang=en>; “COVID-19 Cases
in Canadian Slaughterhouses and Meat Packing Plants” (9 May 2020, updated
14 May 2020), online: FactoryÂ
FarmÂ
Collective <factoryfarmcollective.ca/covid-19/>.
11. See e.g. Kathryn Blaze Baum, Carrie Tait & Tavia Grant, “How Cargill Became
the Site of Canada’s Largest Single Outbreak of COVID-19”, The Globe and MailÂ
(2 May 2020), online: <theglobeandmail.com/business/article-how-cargill-became-
the-site-of-canadas-largest-single-outbreak-of/>; Dryden & Rieger, supra note 8.
VULNERABLE
The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19
- Title
- VULNERABLE
- Subtitle
- The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19
- Authors
- Vanessa MacDonnell
- Jane Philpott
- Sophie Thériault
- Sridhar Venkatapuram
- Publisher
- Ottawa Press
- Date
- 2020
- Language
- English
- License
- CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
- ISBN
- 9780776636429
- Size
- 15.2 x 22.8 cm
- Pages
- 648
- Categories
- Coronavirus
- International