POULTRY & PANDEMIC: Meat industry workers and COVID-19

A history of groundbreaking reporting on the South's poultry industry

June 1, 2021 - It was 32 years ago that Southern Exposure — the print forerunner to Facing South — set out to document conditions in the region's fast-growing poultry industry. Many of the problems it reported on continue today. And as our recent reporting has shown, the pandemic created new challenges for the industry's changing workforce while also presenting opportunities for organizing in an industry that's long resisted unionization.

For Magaly Licolli, organizing poultry workers starts with learning together

By Olivia Paschal

June 1, 2021 - Licolli co-founded the group Venceremos to organize poultry workers in Northwest Arkansas and now serves as its director, a position she previously held at the now-defunct Northwest Arkansas Workers' Justice Center. In this oral history interview, she talks to Facing South about her upbringing in Mexico, how her theater education plays into her organizing strategy, sexism's impact on worker organizing, and lessons she's learned through her work.

Black and white photo of a Black woman on the phone in an office.

From the Archives: 'I feel what women feel'

By Southern Exposure

June 1, 2021 - In the Summer 1989 issue of Southern Exposure, poultry organizer Donna Bazemore talked about lives on the line — and overcoming fear.

Black and white photo of white woman with scissors standing behind a line of raw, whole chickens hanging from hooks.

From the Archives: Inside the slaughterhouse

By Southern Exposure

June 1, 2021 - Working at a breakneck pace in one of the most dangerous of all industries leaves many poultry workers crippled for life.

History

From the Archives: Chicken empires

By Southern Exposure

June 1, 2021 - How poultry went from a barnyard hobby to a giant — and dangerous — engine of efficiency.

Justice

A Tyson employee walks into the team member entrance at the Berry Street location in Springdale, Arkansas. A sign in their path read "Social Distancing Required at all Times" written in English, Spanish and Marshallese.

At least 9,000 Arkansas workers caught COVID-19 as pandemic overwhelmed regulators, companies

By Mary HenniganAbby ZimmardiRachell Sanchez-Smith

May 12, 2021 - Poultry giant Tyson Foods Inc., the third-largest employer in Arkansas, accounted for nearly one-third of the state's 9,065 sickened workers across all industries over nearly a year of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to an analysis by reporting project Arkansascovid.

Justice

Al menos 9,000 trabajadores de Arkansas contrajeron COVID-19 mientras la pandemia agobio reguladores y empresas

By Mary HenniganAbby ZimmardiRachell Sanchez-Smith

May 12, 2021 - El gigante avícola Tyson Foods Inc., el tercer empleador más grande de Arkansas, reportó 2.866 casos de COVID-19 en sus lugares de trabajo, esta figura es casi un tercio de los 9.065 trabajadores enfermos del estado en todas las industrias desde el 19 de mayo de 2020 hasta el 8 de abril de 2021, según un análisis de Arkansascovid.com.

Justice

Workers face off against rendering company in rural North Carolina

By Lewis Kendall

April 16, 2021 - Virginia-based Valley Proteins is one of the largest U.S. rendering companies, turning slaughterhouse waste like blood and bones into profits. Buoyed by the unionizing efforts of Amazon workers in Alabama, the company's drivers are organizing in North Carolina — and they've already won concessions.

Emails show Tyson's sway over Arkansas mayor during COVID surge in plants

By Olivia Paschal

February 5, 2021 - Documents obtained by Facing South show the meatpacking giant's director of state and local government affairs smearing a local worker safety advocate, and how the company worked with local government officials to control the narrative about COVID-19 outbreaks in their plants.

Justice

What the walkout by George's poultry workers accomplished

By Rachell Sanchez-SmithOlivia Paschal

February 17, 2021 - Just over two months ago, more than two dozen workers staged a walkout at a George's poultry plant in Arkansas over conditions related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Here's what happened next.

How the Biden administration can protect frontline food system workers

By Olivia Paschal

January 28, 2021 - The COVID-19 pandemic has not ended in the nation's meat and poultry processing facilities. Here's what organizers and advocates say the new administration can do to help keep workers and their communities safe.

Justice

George's poultry workers walk out in Arkansas to protest COVID-19 conditions

By Olivia PaschalRachell Sanchez-Smith

December 8, 2020 - Employees of a Springdale, Arkansas, processing plant owned by George's, one of the top U.S. chicken producers, are pressing the company to re-implement staggered shifts and make social distancing possible. The walkout, which the workers plan to continue until their demands are met, was the first such action by poultry workers in the state, which leads the nation in poultry production.

Justice

Los trabajadores de pollería en George's hacen huelga en Arkansas para protestar las condiciones del COVID-19

By Rachell Sanchez-SmithOlivia Paschal

December 10, 2020 - Empleados de George's, Inc. en Springdale, Arkansas dicen que la compañía necesita re-implementar turnos escalonados y hacer posible el distanciamiento social en la planta de transporte vivo de la compañía.

George's and other midsize poultry companies struggled to control COVID-19

By Olivia PaschalRachell Sanchez-Smith

November 19, 2020 - Large poultry processors like Tyson have come under public fire for failing to protect their workers from COVID-19. But smaller poultry companies have had the same problems — and much less scrutiny.

As COVID-19 hit Georgia meatpacking counties, officials and industry shifted blame

By Sandy Smith-NoniniOlivia Paschal

September 8, 2020 - For months the official line has been that spread happens in the community, not in the plant. The numbers tell a different story.

COVID-19 pounded Arkansas poultry workers as government and industry looked on

By Olivia Paschal

August 20, 2020 - Emails obtained by Facing South reveal that as workers and community advocates begged for the closure of poultry plants with outbreaks, government and company officials worked closely to present a united front — and keep them open.

Poultry worker advocates allege civil rights violations by major corporations

By Olivia Paschal

July 13, 2020 - A coalition of food system justice groups joined forces to file an administrative complaint accusing Tyson and JBS of violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act by failing to adequately protect their predominantly Black and brown workforces from COVID-19.

Families of Tyson workers with COVID-19 condemn company's labor practices

By Olivia Paschal

June 24, 2020 - As novel coronavirus cases rise in poultry plants near the meat-processing giant's headquarters in Northwest Arkansas, family members of workers say the company takes better care of their chickens than they do their employees.

Protesters demand closure of Arkansas' COVID-19-affected poultry plants

By Olivia Paschal

June 1, 2020 - Poultry plants in Northwest Arkansas are seeing a surge in cases of the novel coronavirus. Worker advocates are demanding they be shut down, despite President Trump's executive order that they remain open.

Workers say Arkansas' poultry giants aren't protecting them from COVID-19

By Olivia PaschalRolando Zenteno

April 28, 2020 - As President Trump pledges action to shield meatpacking companies from liability for sickened workers, employees of two major poultry-processing companies in Arkansas say Tyson and George's aren't doing enough to keep them safe in the pandemic.

POULTRY & PANDEMIC: Meat industry workers and COVID-19

Articles in this series

A history of groundbreaking reporting on the South's poultry industry

For Magaly Licolli, organizing poultry workers starts with learning together

From the Archives: 'I feel what women feel'

From the Archives: Inside the slaughterhouse

From the Archives: Chicken empires

At least 9,000 Arkansas workers caught COVID-19 as pandemic overwhelmed regulators, companies

Al menos 9,000 trabajadores de Arkansas contrajeron COVID-19 mientras la pandemia agobio reguladores y empresas

Workers face off against rendering company in rural North Carolina

Emails show Tyson's sway over Arkansas mayor during COVID surge in plants

What the walkout by George's poultry workers accomplished

How the Biden administration can protect frontline food system workers

George's poultry workers walk out in Arkansas to protest COVID-19 conditions

Los trabajadores de pollería en George's hacen huelga en Arkansas para protestar las condiciones del COVID-19

George's and other midsize poultry companies struggled to control COVID-19

As COVID-19 hit Georgia meatpacking counties, officials and industry shifted blame

COVID-19 pounded Arkansas poultry workers as government and industry looked on

Poultry worker advocates allege civil rights violations by major corporations

Families of Tyson workers with COVID-19 condemn company's labor practices

Protesters demand closure of Arkansas' COVID-19-affected poultry plants

Workers say Arkansas' poultry giants aren't protecting them from COVID-19

Chris Kromm

POULTRY & PANDEMIC: Meat industry workers and COVID-19

Articles in this series

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