"Facing pressure from local health officials over conditions in their plants, meatpacking companies “drafted and pitched an executive order to the Trump White House” to keep slaughterhouses open during the first months of the Covid-19 pandemic, said a congressional staff report on Thursday. When President Trump issued an order that adopted the industry position, meatpackers exaggerated its scope.
“Even though the executive order did not automatically pre-empt the jurisdictions of state and local health authorities, many meatpacking companies nonetheless attempted to use it as such, insisting that USDA and the CDC/OSHA’s lax parameters governed their conduct exclusively,” said the report by staff workers on the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis.
“Armed with the executive order, a loyal USDA ready to do their bidding and favorable CDC/OSHA guidance, many meatpacking companies proceeded to operate plants without adopting critical coronavirus prevention and mitigation measures over the course of the following months, to the detriment of thousands of vulnerable workers.”"
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