‘Like walking into a death trap:’ St. Joseph meat plant workers fear catching COVID-19
Working at the Triumph Food plant in St. Joseph is traumatic.
Since the new coronavirus began to spread among workers in the plant, every day is like “walking into a death trap,” said Amanda Miranda from Atchison, Kansas, who has worked at the plant for more than nine years.
“You don’t know if you’re gonna walk out that day and you’re gonna get stuff, and you’re going to be in a hospital and possibly dead in a week,” she said.
Many people, Miranda says, have stopped coming into work. Calling in sick because they’re terrified.
She doesn’t see that as an option though because, she said, “no one’s going to pay my bills but me.”
The plant is the location of one of the country’s 25 largest clusters of COVID-19 cases, according to data kept by The New York Times. According to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, 412 employees had tested positive for the virus as of May 5.
In an email to The Star Friday evening, the Missouri health department said there are now 490 confirmed cases at the plant.
Employees, however, say there are likely even more undetected cases. Terry McConnel, an employee of more than 14 years, said workers who tested positive for the new coronavirus but showed no symptoms were permitted to return to work days after receiving their test results. When the company tested each employee at the beginning of the month, McConnel said, they had each employee continue working until their test results came back.
“It made everybody down there real scared because you’re working next to someone who’s positive,” he said. “They didn’t tell us who’s positive and who’s negative.”
Christopher Clark, a spokesperson for Triumph Foods, said in an email to The Star that asymptomatic workers who tested positive for coronavirus were required to self isolate at home for 10 days. After that, he said, they were allowed to return to work if they did not exhibit symptoms.
The company he said, is “exploring the possibility of doing another round of voluntary, proactive testing of asymptomatic employees.” No timeline has been set, he said, and any employee who feels sick is told to stay home and work with their personal health care provider.
“All of the procedures and protocols we have implemented to protect the health and safety of our employees remain in-place and there are no plans to change any of them at this time,” Clark said.
One employee started a Change.org petition calling on Missouri Gov. Mike Parson and President Donald Trump to shut the plant down for a week so it can be cleaned.
Triumph Foods has no plans to close the plant, Clark said. Parson’s office did not respond to The Star’s request for comment in time for publication.
‘We’re all going to get it’
Fear and staffing problems in the meat processing plant, which employs more than 2,000 people, have been present since the first case was identified in April.
Triumph Foods employs a large number of immigrants and some who visited family in other countries have been unable to return because of the pandemic, Miranda said. Other workers called in sick because they fear infection.
Management, Miranda and McConnel said, is doing what it can to keep workers safe, however, the nature of the work and the facility does not allow for social distancing.
Workers are provided with masks and have their temperature taken before entering the facility, dividers have been put up at the lunch areas and sanitation efforts were increased.
“That plant wasn’t built for a pandemic,” said McConnel, a 55-year-old from St. Joseph. He added that not all of the workers take the virus seriously so he tries to keep to himself at work and leaves as quickly as possible after his shift.
Miranda and McConnel both work in positions that allow them to stay away from their coworkers on the line, others, however, are standing shoulder to shoulder for hours. With decreased staffing, those who are coming in are working longer, more strenuous hours.
“They’re running us and wearing us out, which is going to get us all worn down and then we’re going to get sick,” Miranda said. “The general idea and the general consensus with my group of people is we’re all going to get it eventually.”
Furthermore, Miranda said, the employee-shared locker rooms are full of people during shift changes and breaks, making it difficult to distance. What worries her most, she said, is that the company requires spouses and roommates of workers who have tested positive to continue to come to work.
“They act like now that they did that testing, they act like nothing’s wrong now, everything’s back to normal,” McConnel said. “It’s not.”
Clark says Triumph has a crew of more than 140 contract employees who thoroughly clean all equipment and areas of the plant each night between shifts. A video posted on the company’s website says Triumph requires all persons in the building to wear face masks and has added an outdoor tent to provide social distancing on lunch breaks.
The video also shows floor dividers have been added on the production floor and the company gave face shields to workers who cannot distance from others on the line.
But workers are staying home out of fear. They include a healthy 23-year-old worker, a single mom and immunocompromised employees worried about getting sick themselves or passing the disease on to their loved ones, Miranda said.
“Everybody’s got a fear in the back of their heads,” she said.
For Miranda, she fears bringing the virus home to her son and his girlfriend, preventing them from going to work. Every time a friend of hers, or someone she works closely with, tests positive, she worries.
But, she says, she and her husband don’t see staying home as an option.
Part of it is a question of work ethic, she says. Her husband has never missed a day of work in his time at Triumph, she has seldom missed.
That aside, she said, there are bills to pay and she and her husband are trying to send money to his children in El Salvador so they don’t have to put themselves in danger by working.
McConnel said he has enough from tax returns and his stimulus check to stay home for a month, but if he does that he wouldn’t have a job if he tried to come back. He’s doubtful he’d be able to find a new job at 55 after 14 years with the same company.
His significant other is on disability and he has 2-year-old grandchild.
“I’m scared to death,” he said. “I don’t know what I’d do if I brought that home to them.”
Petition to close
McConnel and Miranda both said they wish the plant would shut down to sanitize.
A petition on Change.org,which urges for the closing of the plant, has gained nearly 3,000 signatures in a week.
“We’re very worried and afraid that there is a massive infection in the facilities,” the petition says.
Meat plants across the country, including in Kansas and Missouri, have been forced to shut down or slow production as the virus spreads through the employee population and surrounding communities. Last month, President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at keeping meat packing plants open in order to preserve the food supply.
In an email to The Star, Clark said there were no plans to shut down the plant.
“As a food production facility — even before the COVID-19 pandemic — we had to follow strict guidelines set forth by the government when it comes to cleaning and sanitation throughout the plant,” Clark said. “We have gone above and beyond our regular cleaning procedures to implement additional safety and cleaning protocols, as recommended by the CDC and other public health officials.”
When news of the pandemic began to spread, McConnel said he was certain the plant would shut down. Now, because of the executive order and what he’s seen from the company he doubts the plant will close.
“To me it’s all about money for them,” he said. “Every day it seems like they’re speeding the line up a little more.”
Miranda, who has had management roles at the plant, said she believes the company is trying to do its part to prevent a meat shortage and continue to buy from farmers who depend on them for revenue. But, she said, those farmers are already struggling as the plant is producing less than it did before the pandemic.
If the plant shuts down for a week, she said, people who are scared may be willing to come back to work.
Parson’s office did not respond to questions about whether the plant would shut down in time for publication.
In the meantime, Miranda said, she’s worried about a second wave of the virus in the fall.
“We’re the front line workers too,” she said. “We’re wearing ourselves out, we’re hurting ourselves so people can eat.”
This story was originally published May 15, 2020 at 5:33 PM.
