‘Big Meat’ gets pass from Reynolds, Ernst

Posted 8/26/20

Dear Editor:

President Trump and Senator Joni Ernst have been pretty tough on China lately.

Trump blames them for the pandemic, conveniently ignoring the two months he fiddled while the virus …

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‘Big Meat’ gets pass from Reynolds, Ernst

Posted

Dear Editor:

President Trump and Senator Joni Ernst have been pretty tough on China lately.

Trump blames them for the pandemic, conveniently ignoring the two months he fiddled while the virus exploded and the fact that the outbreak in New York came from Europe.

Ernst blames China for stealing American jobs.

There is no doubt that China is a ruthless competitor on the international stage and has cheated whenever possible, is probably waging cyberwar on us.

But China didn’t bust the labor unions in the packing plants and turn good paying jobs with good benefits into crappy jobs with low pay and crappy – if any – benefits. Good old American meatpacking companies did that.

Early in the pandemic in Iowa, some plants were shut down briefly.

Claiming a crisis in the food supply, Big Meat executives and the governor reopened the plants.

Confused, mostly immigrant workers, went back without adequate protections and were told if they stayed home they would be denied unemployment.

Former Texas politician Jim Hightower, in his publication The Lowdown, reports that “In April alone, Big Meat shipped a record amount of U.S. pork – 129,000 tons –to China.”

I guess that’s what Joni Ernst calls Iowa tough.

She should try working in one of those plants.

As Hightower puts it, “Inevitably and constantly, stuff happens to the workers – gashes, crushed hands, amputations, gouged eyes, carpal tunnel, burns, respiratory damage and PTSD from all the stress and carnage.”

OSHA’s official injury reports show an average of 17 SEVERE injuries a month, including two amputations a week.

We don’t really know the real extent of the injuries as the corporations are allowed to mostly “self-report” and discourage workers from documenting or even discussing injuries.

Meanwhile Russia is mounting another full assault on our electoral process and not a peep from Trump or Ernst. Vote her out.

Thomas Jacobson

Riverside