Meat Plants Ordered to Stay Open. Not Fair to Workers

M

Midwest Player

Member
Our president recently ordered meat packing plants to stay open under the Defense Production Act. The covid is spreading like crazy under these close working conditions. Even before this latest virus, complaints existed about the terrible working conditions at meat processing plants. These workers have to stand next to each other at only a couple feet apart. Now they are faced with either their job or their life decision. I say let the plants close for a couple of weeks and get them sanitized and let the worker's recover before having to go back.

I hope the worker's union takes a stand on this. We can go without meat for a month or two. Of course the rich folks want to be able to have that porterhouse steak. And right now its just the rich who can afford meat. My wife went shopping a couple of days ago and looked at the price of pork chops and decided not to buy any.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-28/trump-says-he-s-issuing-order-for-tyson-s-unique-liability
 
T

Tracker

New member
Where was your fake compassion the last 40 years since this is no different a virus from the past....seriously....you can't b this clueless can you? Good for the president and logic shall preval
 
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euphoric1

Well-known member
Midwest Player said:
Our president recently ordered meat packing plants to stay open under the Defense Production Act. The covid is spreading like crazy under these close working conditions. Even before this latest virus, complaints existed about the terrible working conditions at meat processing plants. These workers have to stand next to each other at only a couple feet apart. Now they are faced with either their job or their life decision. I say let the plants close for a couple of weeks and get them sanitized and let the worker's recover before having to go back.

I hope the worker's union takes a stand on this. We can go without meat for a month or two. Of course the rich folks want to be able to have that porterhouse steak. And right now its just the rich who can afford meat. My wife went shopping a couple of days ago and looked at the price of pork chops and decided not to buy any.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-28/trump-says-he-s-issuing-order-for-tyson-s-unique-liability
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" and right now its just the rich wo can afford meat" REALLY? Cant even find meat at my local grocer because just like toilet paper the selfish society we live in...HOARDING once again! WHAT A JOKE!! "go without meat for a couple months?" Not me! What of all the farmers that would be directly impacted? have you thought of them? All food plants should remain open, and instead of questioning the presidents order why not question how this virus got so rampid there in the first place! Next to hospitals they should be following the most stringent health codes and should never have gotten to that point.
 
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slimcake

Well-known member
You really have don't have a clue do you?? Just talked to a guy that had 8 FULL SEMI LOADS OF PIGS THAT HE SHOT AND BURIED IN THE GROUND!!!!! JUST SHY OF 1000 PIGS. HOW HARD IS IT TO PUT A PIECE OF PLEXI GLASS IN BETWEEN THE WORKERS AND NOT DISRUPT THE ENTIRE NATIONS FOOD SUPPLY!!!!!!!! IF YOU WERE STANDING IN FRONT OF ME YOU WOULD BE ON THE FLOOR!!!! ARROGANT IGNORANT SOB!!!!!!


ITS NOT FAIR??????????? HOW YOU MADE IT THIS FAR IN LIFE IS BEYOND ME!! YES I AM YELLING AT YOU!!
 
favoritos

favoritos

Well-known member
Sadly, the reality of business is about more than packing plants. They are a component of the supply system that works as a flow. It takes time to restart the flow. There will be modifications to how we manage the meat packing industry just like many other flow businesses. It is generally not a good plan to shut down a supply chain.(And that is putting it mildly in kind terms.)

The biggest problem with shutting down now is what it does to future flow. We might get lucky if we can make this short term and only cull the market weight animals. The breeding and birthing operations are still going close to normal. Hogs for example, have a pretty short time frame to reach market weight relative to cattle. The pipeline of pork has a faster recovery time if they do not need to cull breeding and birthing. The hog operations are trying to manage the damage by getting rid of the short term liability. It is no fun. Ask a farmer that is digging holes for market ready animals.
The pipeline for cattle moves a little slower. It takes a whole lot more time for them to reach market weight. The plants are also designed to handle a larger frame size variation. We might be able to slow down that pipeline a bit without culling. It would be a slower recovery if they did need to start culling.

Shutting down operations is a painful experience that brings a financial and emotional toll. Try going out to the field with your paycheck and setting it on fire.
 
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whitedust

Well-known member
Midwest Player said:
Our president recently ordered meat packing plants to stay open under the Defense Production Act. The covid is spreading like crazy under these close working conditions. Even before this latest virus, complaints existed about the terrible working conditions at meat processing plants. These workers have to stand next to each other at only a couple feet apart. Now they are faced with either their job or their life decision. I say let the plants close for a couple of weeks and get them sanitized and let the worker's recover before having to go back.


I hope the worker's union takes a stand on this. We can go without meat for a month or two. Of course the rich folks want to be able to have that porterhouse steak. And right now its just the rich who can afford meat. My wife went shopping a couple of days ago and looked at the price of pork chops and decided not to buy any.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-28/trump-says-he-s-issuing-order-for-tyson-s-unique-liability
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I agree with others you really don’t have a clue regarding what interruptions of the meat supply chain would do to our farmers and ranchers. You think they will keep feeding live stock with no place to sell guess again they’ll did a big hole herd in the livestock and start shooting. It’s classic economics supply and demand. The farmers haven’t suffered enough already??? The meat plant workers environment is **** on earth always has been 38 degrees and high humidity with constant wash downs. They are tuff folks always have been and work in theses environments because that’s how they make money. They don’t want the job stay home others will take their place. You want a meatless diet your choice but not for me and would also end take out restaurants at many restaurants including your local McDs and Burger King. Sometimes I wonder if you understand basic business or just shoot off the cuff based on emotion as your sound business sense is lacking and clueless.
 
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highhertel

Member
The small local meat markets and processors will benefit hugely. Meat market i go to is just swamped, at least the little guy is doing ok for now. Unfortunately the small processors being busy will not help alleviate the glut of live animals soon though.

The large processors did a poor job in COVID remediation. Packed lunch rooms, cramped processing lines with no barriers, almost no proactive measures taken until OSHA forced them to. Where was the corporate responsibility of providing a safe work environment for their workers?
 
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wisyooper1

Member
Anytime I see a post with a link to CNN, Bloomberg, or any other liberal biased news source, I don't even take the time to read the post. Glad to see that the folks who responded have their heads on straight and not up their bottom.
 
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whitedust

Well-known member
highhertel said:
The small local meat markets and processors will benefit hugely. Meat market i go to is just swamped, at least the little guy is doing ok for now. Unfortunately the small processors being busy will not help alleviate the glut of live animals soon though.

The large processors did a poor job in COVID remediation. Packed lunch rooms, cramped processing lines with no barriers, almost no proactive measures taken until OSHA forced them to. Where was the corporate responsibility of providing a safe work environment for their workers?
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Big corporation meat processing environments are not good never have been. I’ve seen line workers go down hit the floor and nothing shuts down hot dogs keep shooting out of the hot dog machine at the usual rate. Stretcher comes in they take the fallen worker out someone else steps in to his place on the line production never stops. Can conditions be improved of course but not by shutting down the plants indefinitely. I’ve installed new machinery in meat processing plants and they give you an envelope of time to install and get out of the way and if you interrupt production there will be **** to pay and a bunch of line people standing around. Workers in meat processing know the score and what is expected. As I said they are a tuff bunch always have been always will be.
 
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slimcake

Well-known member
659709151408272176.jpg Me and some guys from work just bought these guys. Told the farmer we wanted to pay what was fair. 200 bucks a pig plus the processing charges. If you have a place to market your animals its still a losing process. Alot of work goes into raising these animals and when you loose hundreds of dollars per animal doing so it doesn't make much sense. How many farmers are we going to have left when this is over? 37 cents a pound for pigs and 80 cents a pound for cows. 10 dollar milk. 2 dollar corn. 8 dollar beans. All of these prices are 50% under the break even point. The break even point. Your food doesn't come from the store. It comes from the farmers!!!
 
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G

Guest
I am in the grocery biz. Last week our main supplier called and said that fresh pork in any form will be tough to get for the next 4 to 6 weeks. After that pork will be high for the rest of the summer at least. The pipeline for fresh pork and beef and chickens is a very intricate mechanism. There is a scheduled slaughter number for EVERY DAY. Even one day of stoppage results in disruption. There is only so much automation that can be done. It is a very good system when it all flows smoothly. Efficient and cheap. But all the pieces must be working and in place. The Farmer has to supply X head on X day. The trucks have to deliver the animals NO MATTER WHAT. The processor has to be up to speed. Packaging has to be available. Then the product has to go to regional distributers and then on to individual stores. There are farmers in my area that have cattle that they will be disposed of. I can't buy them and process them and sell them because I am not USDA approved or licensed. When this is all done there will be less producers. There are already guys throwing in the towel. It will result in higher prices going forward. The damage is already done. There is some hope that the Sioux Falls Smithfield plant will soon reopen. That will help. But right now there are 13 pork processing plants shut down. Bacon will be the new T-bone.
 
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elf

Well-known member
slimcake said:
View attachment 61665 Me and some guys from work just bought these guys. Told the farmer we wanted to pay what was fair. 200 bucks a pig plus the processing charges. If you have a place to market your animals its still a losing process. Alot of work goes into raising these animals and when you loose hundreds of dollars per animal doing so it doesn't make much sense. How many farmers are we going to have left when this is over? 37 cents a pound for pigs and 80 cents a pound for cows. 10 dollar milk. 2 dollar corn. 8 dollar beans. All of these prices are 50% under the break even point. The break even point. Your food doesn't come from the store. It comes from the farmers!!!
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My dad just called me last night and asked if I had freezer space because he just bought me 1/2 a pig. A friend of his headed to southern MN and was bringing back 15-20 and lining up buyers. Already had the processing set up so it sounds like we are getting 1/2 a pig at $.47/pound all processed and wrapped. Good price for me and it's better than just killing and burying animals.
 
H

highhertel

Member
whitedust said:
Big corporation meat processing environments are not good never have been. I’ve seen line workers go down hit the floor and nothing shuts down hot dogs keep shooting out of the hot dog machine at the usual rate. Stretcher comes in they take the fallen worker out someone else steps in to his place on the line production never stops. Can conditions be improved of course but not by shutting down the plants indefinitely. I’ve installed new machinery in meat processing plants and they give you an envelope of time to install and get out of the way and if you interrupt production there will be **** to pay and a bunch of line people standing around. Workers in meat processing know the score and what is expected. As I said they are a tuff bunch always have been always will be.
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I work for a food processing equipment OEM and head up the field service dept. Been in lots of processing plants, some well run others not so well. My onsite schedule is based on their down time. Hold up production and you will hear about it.
 
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euphoric1

Well-known member
grub said:
I am in the grocery biz. Last week our main supplier called and said that fresh pork in any form will be tough to get for the next 4 to 6 weeks. After that pork will be high for the rest of the summer at least. The pipeline for fresh pork and beef and chickens is a very intricate mechanism. There is a scheduled slaughter number for EVERY DAY. Even one day of stoppage results in disruption. There is only so much automation that can be done. It is a very good system when it all flows smoothly. Efficient and cheap. But all the pieces must be working and in place. The Farmer has to supply X head on X day. The trucks have to deliver the animals NO MATTER WHAT. The processor has to be up to speed. Packaging has to be available. Then the product has to go to regional distributers and then on to individual stores. There are farmers in my area that have cattle that they will be disposed of. I can't buy them and process them and sell them because I am not USDA approved or licensed. When this is all done there will be less producers. There are already guys throwing in the towel. It will result in higher prices going forward. The damage is already done. There is some hope that the Sioux Falls Smithfield plant will soon reopen. That will help. But right now there are 13 pork processing plants shut down. Bacon will be the new T-bone.
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This should also be put under the "was it worth it heading" to reinforce the fact that NO ITS NOT WORTH IT and I guarantee the same CRIERS that think this is all a good idea will be the same CRIERS complaining when there is no normal anymore! PEOPLE JUST DONT GET IT! good post grub!
 
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G

Guest
It isn't just perishables that will be affected. If you like Bushes Beans with onion or maple flavor you better buy some now. They are only going to be making the Original flavor going forward. Hunts is scaling back to just make tomato sauce and tomato paste. Many of the peripheral varieties will be out of production. Campbells will be temporarily discontinuing some of their variety soups. There will still be the basics but if you like something weird you better go get it now. It is all a big complicated puzzle. Even if this all ended tomorrow it will take time to put the puzzle back together again. So far fresh produce seems to be staying normal. Milk is coming down. Also eggs are coming down. But this could all change by the time we wake up tomorrow. In the end if producers get knocked out of production it will end up resulting in higher prices on most grocery products. This is not rocket science. Also your local grocer is probably not screwing you. When the cost of goods goes up we still have to make margins or our own little puzzle falls apart. Most guys on this site understand that. Lots of self employed business guys here.
 
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