, by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, found Tyson Food’s legal team drafted an executive order signed by Trump in April 2020 that invoked the Defense Production Act to ensure meatpacking plants continued operations despite the Covid health risks they posed.
The subcommittee also claims the meatpacking industry knew the high risk of coronavirus transmission inside plants but still lobbied Department of Agriculture officials to enforce policies that deprived employees of benefits if they chose not to go to work or quit because of the pandemic. Meatpacking industry representatives disputed the findings, including the North American Meat Institute, which said in a
the report “ignores the rigorous and comprehensive measures companies enacted to protect employees and support their critical infrastructure workers.”