democracynow--2020-05-01--May Day People's Strike! Target, Amazon, Instacart Workers Demand Safe Conditions & Pandemic Relief

This is a rush transcript .
Copy may not be in its final form .
AMY GOODMAN : This is Democracy Now !
, democracynow.org , The Quarantine Report .
I ’ m Amy Goodman , here in New York , in the epicenter of the pandemic , joined by my co-host Juan González from his home in New Brunswick , New Jersey , number two in terms of infections and deaths in the United States .
Well , Juan , it ’ s hard to say Happy May Day after that , but it ’ s good to have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Well , thank you , Amy .
And I want to welcome all of our listeners and viewers across the country and around the world .
AMY GOODMAN : Well , today is May Day , the international holiday that usually brings millions into the streets around the world to march in protest for workers ’ rights .
This year looks different because of the coronavirus pandemic .
But many people are still joining a call for a general strike .
An unprecedented coalition of essential workers from Amazon , Instacart , Whole @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are calling out sick or walking out during their lunch break to demand better health and safety conditions , along with hazard pay .
Others are joining them for May Day actions that include rent strikes , car caravan protests and online organizing calling for a “ People ’ s Bailout ” and economic recovery plan that prioritizes workers .
The May Day strike follows a walkout last month by Amazon workers in New York City and more than 10,000 Instacart workers nationwide .
Whole Foods workers led a national sickout on March @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and bus drivers in Detroit have staged wildcat strikes .
Well , for more , we ’ re going to Jackson , Mississippi , to speak with Kali Akuno , co-founder and co-director of Cooperation Jackson , which issued “ A Call to Action : Towards a General Strike to End the COVID-19 Crisis and Create a New World , ” that launches today with a people ’ s strike here on May Day .
Their call has grown into this massive coalition of groups .
It ’ s great to have you @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the states around the country that ’ s going forward with plans to reopen , after Governor Tate Reeves signed a “ safer-at-home ” executive order that lets most retailers reopen with a 50 % reduced capacity .
Kali , welcome back to Democracy Now !
Talk about your call for a people ’ s strike , and your group , and the response to it around the country .
KALI AKUNO : Well , good morning , everybody , first and foremost .
And Happy May Day , despite the conditions .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ trying to defend people all throughout this country .
May 1st was the day that Trump and his allies , like Tate Reeves , decided to just totally disregard all of the scientific evidence , all the scientific reasoning , and try to force many millions of workers back to work .
So our coalition marked that date , which , fortunately , I think , for us , happened to be May Day , and decided to stand up today to send a clear message that we will determine when it ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ upon the scientific evidence and reasoning .
That is the first thing our coalition has grown to rise up , stay , protect and be in solidarity with folks , whether they ’ re taking actions at work or actions at home or they ’ re rent striking or taking the caravans .
So , we ’ re going to be out in force today .
I think there will be many millions of people consciously and deliberately acting today .
And I think it ’ s the start of a critical movement @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in this country for some time to come , because after the crisis ends on the pandemic side , we know the economic dimension of it is still going to keep waging on .
And what we ’ re trying to get ahead of is all of the disaster capital enforcement of weak labor laws or new working hours , lower pay , that we think is going to come in the wake of how capital is going to restructure to deal with this pandemic and exploit workers on the heels of it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , major tests , but this is what we ’ re setting ourselves to do .
JUAN GONZÁLEZ : And , Kali Akuno , how have you been able to put together — what are the coalitions that have come together around this ?
Obviously , this is being done outside the existing organized labor structures of the normal trade unions , most of whom never strike unless there ’ s a contract that ’ s ended and is being renegotiated .
Can you talk about how you ’ ve been able to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ KALI AKUNO : Number one , I think the situation really required it .
A number of folks were reaching out to us in the state and in the region about some ideas , based on some early conversations that we had , based on our initial response .
And I should say , a few of us , myself included , have had some prior experience with earlier coronaviruses , SARS in particular .
Several good friends , particularly one that was dear , died of SARS .
It was about a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ve started trying to do education with a number of folks and encouraging our allies , first and foremost , to take this serious , because there was a lot of chatter that we were hearing that it ’ s just a bad flu , that it will pass real quick , and we were trying to dismiss people of that notion .
That put us in first contact .
And then , once we issued our particular call , we just really started hitting the phones — hitting the phones , working @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the country to join the call , to heed .
We did a ton of outreach to organized labor , where there ’ s actually , I would say , Juan , more support than people might think .
Many people may not be able to take action in direct name , but I think we ’ ll see a surprising number of actions taking place by rank-and-file workers all throughout the country as a result of our call , and also as a result of all the energy and wildcat strikes that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on .
JUAN GONZÁLEZ : Well , interestingly , Kali , there was an article in today ’ s New York Times that may put a little bit of an international dimension of what ’ s going on here .
There ’ s a major battle going on right now across the border in Mexico as U.S. companies are trying to keep the maquiladoras , the plants that manufacture for the U.S. market , open , while the Mexican government wants to keep all these industries closed because there ’ s been so @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
There is one plant in Mexico , a Lear plant that produces car seats , where already 13 workers have died from COVID-19 , and yet the Lear company wants to keep that plant open , despite what the Mexican government is saying .
And the U.S. is claiming that these factories are essential to the United States , not to Mexico .
They ’ re essential to the United States , so they want the Mexican government to keep it open .
On May Day , International Workers ’ Day , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that workers in other countries are being forced to keep their plants — plants to be kept open just to service the U.S. is astounding .
KALI AKUNO : Well , we ’ re seeing that in other places , too .
I mean , we ’ ve heard about some similar things going on in the Caribbean .
You know , it just speaks to how this particular administration has treated this with just total disregard for human life and not getting prepared and not taking it seriously , not using , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ powers at its disposal to actually protect workers or to ramp up production in such a way that could have protected workers , to stealing — I ’ ll just call it basically what it is — the PPE for many of the states .
It ’ s been a real , in my view , criminal enterprise that we are really going have to reckon with , going forward .
AMY GOODMAN : I wanted to ask you , Kali , about something that ’ s happening in your community right now @ @ @ @ @ @ @ just reported on what ’ s happening in Michigan , the AK-47 gun-toting Michiganders who went and occupied the Capitol rotunda .
Some of the state legislators felt they had to wear bulletproof vests .
You ’ re in the capital of Jackson , Mississippi , where the mayor , Chokwe Lumumba , has extended a stay-at-home order another two weeks and also just announced he will not renew a controversial executive order banning the open carry of firearms in the city .
In response , the group Reopen Mississippi is also holding @ @ @ @ @ @ @ same time as your May Day actions ?
KALI AKUNO : That is correct .
That is correct .
We ’ ve been monitoring as much of the right-wing radio and some of the communications , monitor all night , myself included in that , trying to get some understanding of the various movements that they might take .
But we expect to see something very similar to what happened in Michigan here today at the state Capitol .
AMY GOODMAN : I ’ m not sure if it was AR-15s or AK-47s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be all of that here and then some , because our laws here are even more open than they are in the state of Michigan .
So , if they decide to come , they ’ ll have kind of every advantage to be out on the street and to try to be as intimidating as possible .
We know that our city police will probably respond , try to protect as many folks as possible .
We ’ re not quite sure , to be real with you , Amy , what @ @ @ @ @ @ @ state police , given somewhat a track record that we ’ ve seen at times with protests similar to this .
So , it makes for an interesting day .
We are going to do everything we can to ensure that all of our people who come out in support of the May Day protests will be safe and sound .
But what you ’ re really going to see is a clash of worldviews on full display here in Mississippi , that I think will mirror much of what may take place @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
JUAN GONZÁLEZ : And , Kali , as part of this protest movement , you ’ re also calling for rent strikes , as well , and also are urging consumers not to shop at particular stores .
Could you talk about that , as well ?
KALI AKUNO : Yeah .
We were very clear that we wanted to give multiple entry points for everybody throughout this country to engage .
That was a critical thing .
We know there is not a lot of workers , given the nature of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ go on strike .
And we were trying to be very clear from the beginning that this is a call toward a general strike , not that we will be able to pull one off on May Day , given how short the time the organizing span was .
But we ’ ve been encouraging folks , number one , if you ’ re home , to strike in place , to not work today .
Don ’ t get on anymore Zoom calls or Jitsi calls or anything of that nature .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ involved with the people .
We ’ ve been calling on folks to engage in conscious and deliberate rent strikes , and even for those who can pay their rent or pay their mortgage , to stand in solidarity with the millions of people who can not , and to make sure to send clear messages to whoever you ’ re renting from or whoever your mortgage lender is , to outline very clearly that you can not pay , that you will not pay , under the circumstances ; and have been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ communities , practicing the best physical distancing measures possible .
So we ’ ve been encouraging car caravans , of which there ’ s about 15 , that we know of , and a growing number , that are going to take place today throughout this country , including here in Jackson .
And then there ’ s going to be , I think , a remarkable set of workers ’ actions , that you mentioned at the top , which are kicking off now , I know , in some places on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ spreading throughout the country , at Amazon , Whole Foods , Target , many transit workers and more throughout the country .
So I think it ’ s going to be a beautiful day .
And for us , we ’ re hoping that this leads to , and we ’ re planning on continuing this , to strike the first of every month going forward , until some basic fundamental demands are met .
AMY GOODMAN : I wanted to end with getting your comment on this quote from the artist Seth @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all be working in conditions that will kill us ?
First we solve the medical problem , then we restart the capitalist economy .
If we restart the economy first , there will be no reason for the ruling elites to find a cure or a vaccine .
They can sit safely in their gated communities while the rest of us die.
” AMY GOODMAN : Your thoughts , Kali Akuno , as we wrap up ?
KALI AKUNO : I couldn ’ t agree with that more .
I mean , it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that they ’ re even having the conversations on CNN and MSNBC now that the corporations and the government are willing to sacrifice tens of thousands of us .
As one of them said , “ There ’ s something more important than life.
” I think that was the most absurd statement I ever heard .
We have to put people before profits .
That ’ s first and foremost .
AMY GOODMAN : Kali Akuno , I want to thank for being with us , co-founder , co-director of Cooperation Jackson @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Call to Action : Towards a General Strike to End the COVID-19 Crisis and Create a New World , ” that launches today with a people ’ s strike on this May Day .
When we come back from break , we ’ re bringing you a Democracy Now !
radio/television broadcast exclusive : an interview with a woman who was a friend of Tara Reade ’ s in the 1990s , who will talk about corroborating her telling her about her allegation at that time that then-Senator Joe Biden sexually assaulted her @ @ @ @ @ @ @ presidential candidate Joe Biden is on MSNBC addressing the allegations of Tara Reade for the first time .
Stay with us .
AMY GOODMAN : “ My Country for Sale ” by Óscar Chávez .
He ’ s died at the age of 85 after being hospitalized with coronavirus symptoms .

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The Quarantine Report. I’m Amy Goodman, here in New York, in the epicenter of the pandemic, joined by my co-host Juan González from his home in New Brunswick, New Jersey, number two in terms of infections and deaths in the United States. Well, Juan, it’s hard to say Happy May Day after that, but it’s good to have you with us.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Well, thank you, Amy. And I want to welcome all of our listeners and viewers across the country and around the world.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, today is May Day, the international holiday that usually brings millions into the streets around the world to march in protest for workers’ rights. This year looks different because of the coronavirus pandemic. But many people are still joining a call for a general strike.
An unprecedented coalition of essential workers from Amazon, Instacart, Whole Foods, Walmart, Target and FedEx are calling out sick or walking out during their lunch break to demand better health and safety conditions, along with hazard pay. Others are joining them for May Day actions that include rent strikes, car caravan protests and online organizing calling for a “People’s Bailout” and economic recovery plan that prioritizes workers.
The May Day strike follows a walkout last month by Amazon workers in New York City and more than 10,000 Instacart workers nationwide. Whole Foods workers led a national sickout on March 31st, and sanitation workers in Pittsburgh and bus drivers in Detroit have staged wildcat strikes.
Well, for more, we’re going to Jackson, Mississippi, to speak with Kali Akuno, co-founder and co-director of Cooperation Jackson, which issued “A Call to Action: Towards a General Strike to End the COVID-19 Crisis and Create a New World,” that launches today with a people’s strike here on May Day. Their call has grown into this massive coalition of groups.
It’s great to have you with us from Mississippi, one of the states around the country that’s going forward with plans to reopen, after Governor Tate Reeves signed a “safer-at-home” executive order that lets most retailers reopen with a 50% reduced capacity. Kali, welcome back to Democracy Now! Talk about your call for a people’s strike, and your group, and the response to it around the country.
KALI AKUNO: Well, good morning, everybody, first and foremost. And Happy May Day, despite the conditions.
We are, first and foremost, trying to defend people all throughout this country. May 1st was the day that Trump and his allies, like Tate Reeves, decided to just totally disregard all of the scientific evidence, all the scientific reasoning, and try to force many millions of workers back to work. So our coalition marked that date, which, fortunately, I think, for us, happened to be May Day, and decided to stand up today to send a clear message that we will determine when it’s safe to go back, based upon the scientific evidence and reasoning. That is the first thing our coalition has grown to rise up, stay, protect and be in solidarity with folks, whether they’re taking actions at work or actions at home or they’re rent striking or taking the caravans.
So, we’re going to be out in force today. I think there will be many millions of people consciously and deliberately acting today. And I think it’s the start of a critical movement that we’re going to need in this country for some time to come, because after the crisis ends on the pandemic side, we know the economic dimension of it is still going to keep waging on. And what we’re trying to get ahead of is all of the disaster capital enforcement of weak labor laws or new working hours, lower pay, that we think is going to come in the wake of how capital is going to restructure to deal with this pandemic and exploit workers on the heels of it to try to recoup profits. So, major tests, but this is what we’re setting ourselves to do.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Kali Akuno, how have you been able to put together — what are the coalitions that have come together around this? Obviously, this is being done outside the existing organized labor structures of the normal trade unions, most of whom never strike unless there’s a contract that’s ended and is being renegotiated. Can you talk about how you’ve been able to put together this grassroots labor protest?
KALI AKUNO: Number one, I think the situation really required it. A number of folks were reaching out to us in the state and in the region about some ideas, based on some early conversations that we had, based on our initial response. And I should say, a few of us, myself included, have had some prior experience with earlier coronaviruses, SARS in particular. Several good friends, particularly one that was dear, died of SARS. It was about a decade back. So, we’ve started trying to do education with a number of folks and encouraging our allies, first and foremost, to take this serious, because there was a lot of chatter that we were hearing that it’s just a bad flu, that it will pass real quick, and we were trying to dismiss people of that notion. That put us in first contact.
And then, once we issued our particular call, we just really started hitting the phones — hitting the phones, working our contacts, working our allies throughout the country to join the call, to heed. We did a ton of outreach to organized labor, where there’s actually, I would say, Juan, more support than people might think. Many people may not be able to take action in direct name, but I think we’ll see a surprising number of actions taking place by rank-and-file workers all throughout the country as a result of our call, and also as a result of all the energy and wildcat strikes that emerged in March that are still going on.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Well, interestingly, Kali, there was an article in today’s New York Times that may put a little bit of an international dimension of what’s going on here. There’s a major battle going on right now across the border in Mexico as U.S. companies are trying to keep the maquiladoras, the plants that manufacture for the U.S. market, open, while the Mexican government wants to keep all these industries closed because there’s been so many deaths from COVID-19 among factory workers. There is one plant in Mexico, a Lear plant that produces car seats, where already 13 workers have died from COVID-19, and yet the Lear company wants to keep that plant open, despite what the Mexican government is saying. And the U.S. is claiming that these factories are essential to the United States, not to Mexico. They’re essential to the United States, so they want the Mexican government to keep it open. On May Day, International Workers’ Day, the idea —
KALI AKUNO: Right.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: — that workers in other countries are being forced to keep their plants — plants to be kept open just to service the U.S. is astounding.
KALI AKUNO: Well, we’re seeing that in other places, too. I mean, we’ve heard about some similar things going on in the Caribbean. You know, it just speaks to how this particular administration has treated this with just total disregard for human life and not getting prepared and not taking it seriously, not using, when the crisis hit, the various powers at its disposal to actually protect workers or to ramp up production in such a way that could have protected workers, to stealing — I’ll just call it basically what it is — the PPE for many of the states. It’s been a real, in my view, criminal enterprise that we are really going have to reckon with, going forward.
AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to ask you, Kali, about something that’s happening in your community right now, in Jackson, Mississippi. We just reported on what’s happening in Michigan, the AK-47 gun-toting Michiganders who went and occupied the Capitol rotunda. Some of the state legislators felt they had to wear bulletproof vests. You’re in the capital of Jackson, Mississippi, where the mayor, Chokwe Lumumba, has extended a stay-at-home order another two weeks and also just announced he will not renew a controversial executive order banning the open carry of firearms in the city. In response, the group Reopen Mississippi is also holding an open-carry gun rally today at the same time as your May Day actions?
KALI AKUNO: That is correct. That is correct. We’ve been monitoring as much of the right-wing radio and some of the communications, monitor all night, myself included in that, trying to get some understanding of the various movements that they might take. But we expect to see something very similar to what happened in Michigan here today at the state Capitol.
AMY GOODMAN: I’m not sure if it was AR-15s or AK-47s.
KALI AKUNO: It’ll be all of that here and then some, because our laws here are even more open than they are in the state of Michigan. So, if they decide to come, they’ll have kind of every advantage to be out on the street and to try to be as intimidating as possible. We know that our city police will probably respond, try to protect as many folks as possible. We’re not quite sure, to be real with you, Amy, what’s going to happen with the state police, given somewhat a track record that we’ve seen at times with protests similar to this.
So, it makes for an interesting day. We are going to do everything we can to ensure that all of our people who come out in support of the May Day protests will be safe and sound. But what you’re really going to see is a clash of worldviews on full display here in Mississippi, that I think will mirror much of what may take place in the near future throughout the country.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Kali, as part of this protest movement, you’re also calling for rent strikes, as well, and also are urging consumers not to shop at particular stores. Could you talk about that, as well?
KALI AKUNO: Yeah. We were very clear that we wanted to give multiple entry points for everybody throughout this country to engage. That was a critical thing. We know there is not a lot of workers, given the nature of the contract, who could just initially go on strike. And we were trying to be very clear from the beginning that this is a call toward a general strike, not that we will be able to pull one off on May Day, given how short the time the organizing span was.
But we’ve been encouraging folks, number one, if you’re home, to strike in place, to not work today. Don’t get on anymore Zoom calls or Jitsi calls or anything of that nature. Just take the day off. Get involved with the people.
We’ve been calling on folks to engage in conscious and deliberate rent strikes, and even for those who can pay their rent or pay their mortgage, to stand in solidarity with the millions of people who cannot, and to make sure to send clear messages to whoever you’re renting from or whoever your mortgage lender is, to outline very clearly that you cannot pay, that you will not pay, under the circumstances; and have been encouraging people to take action in the communities, practicing the best physical distancing measures possible. So we’ve been encouraging car caravans, of which there’s about 15, that we know of, and a growing number, that are going to take place today throughout this country, including here in Jackson.
And then there’s going to be, I think, a remarkable set of workers’ actions, that you mentioned at the top, which are kicking off now, I know, in some places on the East Coast and going to be spreading throughout the country, at Amazon, Whole Foods, Target, many transit workers and more throughout the country.
So I think it’s going to be a beautiful day. And for us, we’re hoping that this leads to, and we’re planning on continuing this, to strike the first of every month going forward, until some basic fundamental demands are met.
AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to end with getting your comment on this quote from the artist Seth David Tobocman: “Why should we all be working in conditions that will kill us? First we solve the medical problem, then we restart the capitalist economy. If we restart the economy first, there will be no reason for the ruling elites to find a cure or a vaccine. They can sit safely in their gated communities while the rest of us die.”
KALI AKUNO: That’s right.
AMY GOODMAN: Your thoughts, Kali Akuno, as we wrap up?
KALI AKUNO: I couldn’t agree with that more. I mean, it’s very clear from the way that they’re even having the conversations on CNN and MSNBC now that the corporations and the government are willing to sacrifice tens of thousands of us. As one of them said, “There’s something more important than life.” I think that was the most absurd statement I ever heard. We have to put people before profits. That’s first and foremost.
AMY GOODMAN: Kali Akuno, I want to thank for being with us, co-founder, co-director of Cooperation Jackson in Mississippi, which issued “A Call to Action: Towards a General Strike to End the COVID-19 Crisis and Create a New World,” that launches today with a people’s strike on this May Day.
When we come back from break, we’re bringing you a Democracy Now! radio/television broadcast exclusive: an interview with a woman who was a friend of Tara Reade’s in the 1990s, who will talk about corroborating her telling her about her allegation at that time that then-Senator Joe Biden sexually assaulted her. As we do this broadcast, presidential candidate Joe Biden is on MSNBC addressing the allegations of Tara Reade for the first time. Stay with us.
[break]
AMY GOODMAN: “My Country for Sale” by Óscar Chávez. He’s died at the age of 85 after being hospitalized with coronavirus symptoms.


democracynow--2020-05-01--Headlines for May  1, 2020

Headlines for May  1, 2020

Trump contradicted his administration ’ s top intelligence officials , saying he ’ s seen strong evidence that the novel @ @ @ @ @ in Wuhan , China .
Trump presented no evidence .
After The New York Times @ @ @ @ @ pushed intelligence agencies to link the novel coronavirus to Chinese labs , the Office of @ @ @ @ @ issued a rare public statement Thursday .
It read , “ The Intelligence Community also @ @ @ @ @ consensus that the COVID-19 virus was not manmade or genetically modified.
” On Thursday , @ @ @ @ @ backing Joe Biden in November ’ s election and threatened to impose new tariffs on @ @ @ @ @ Post reports some administration officials have discussed canceling some of the massive U.S. debt held @ @ @

Trump contradicted his administration’s top intelligence officials, saying he’s seen strong evidence that the novel coronavirus emerged from a laboratory in Wuhan, China. Trump presented no evidence.
John Roberts: “And what gives you a high degree of confidence that this originated from the Wuhan Institute of Virology?”
President Donald Trump: “I can’t tell you that. I’m not allowed to tell you that.”
After The New York Times reported top administration officials have pushed intelligence agencies to link the novel coronavirus to Chinese labs, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence issued a rare public statement Thursday. It read, “The Intelligence Community also concurs with the wide scientific consensus that the COVID-19 virus was not manmade or genetically modified.”
On Thursday, Trump also accused China of backing Joe Biden in November’s election and threatened to impose new tariffs on Chinese goods. The Washington Post reports some administration officials have discussed having the U.S. cancel part of its debt obligations to China.


democracynow--2020-05-04--ER Doctor: Pulse Oximeters Detect Oxygen Deprivation Earlier from COVID-19, Help Avoid Ventilators

This is a rush transcript .
Copy may not be in its final form .
AMY GOODMAN : We turn now to our last segment .
This is Democracy Now !
The Quarantine Report .
I ’ m Amy Goodman , as we look at the effort to save more lives as the coronavirus pandemic continues to rage across the United States and around the world .
Even as President Trump presses states to begin reopening , he predicted Sunday the U.S. death toll from the pandemic could reach 100,000 — a number far higher than his earlier estimate a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ We ’ re joined now by Dr. Richard Levitan , an emergency physician who ’ s usually based in Littleton , New Hampshire , but he came down to New York to volunteer at one of the public hospitals , at Bellevue Hospital , where my dad used to work , in Manhattan , for 10 days at the height of the COVID-19 surge in April .
He was shocked by what he saw .
He wrote about what he learned in The New York Times op-ed headlined “ The Infection That ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it , he writes , “ I realized that we are not detecting the deadly pneumonia the virus causes early enough and that we could be doing more to keep patients off ventilators — and alive.
” Dr. Levitan , if you could tell us how exactly you do that ?
Welcome .
DR. RICHARD LEVITAN : Thank you for having me .
For the last 30 years in medicine , we have used a fifth vital sign .
So , the standard vital signs of heart rate , blood pressure , temperature @ @ @ @ @ @ @ added a fifth vital sign .
That fifth vital sign is pulse oximetry .
And what it does is it measures the saturation of oxygen in the blood .
And what I noticed while working in New York is these patients came in with alarmingly low oxygen saturations , but they did not , subjectively , actually feel short of breath .
AMY GOODMAN : So , explain this oximeter .
Explain exactly what it is .
And interestingly , the inventor of the oximeter , Takuo Aoyagi — an ingenious and indispensable @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it — just died , and his death was just announced .
DR. RICHARD LEVITAN : Yeah .
So , if you ’ ve interacted with the healthcare system at all in the last 30 years , you ’ ve had a small probe placed on your finger .
In the hospital , those probes connect up to our monitors .
But there also now fingertip versions of this .
And these devices are very inexpensive , and they are widely available .
They are present or ready on every ambulance , in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s office , actually in every nursing home .
They exist widely .
And this device gives you two numbers .
It gives you a heart rate , and it gives you an oxygen saturation .
And so , what is remarkable about this is that the cause of death in COVID , overwhelmingly , is pneumonia .
Pneumonia triggers hospitalization , and often requirements for mechanical ventilation , and then all these problems ensue after the lungs get severely injured .
And a pulse oximeter is just a measure of identifying how @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , I believe , can be basically an early warning system in terms of patients to know who has COVID pneumonia .
AMY GOODMAN : So , describe what doctors all over the country , and nurses , are seeing in hospitals , something that they really haven ’ t seen before , where someone will be on their cellphone , they ’ ll be talking to the doctors and nurses , and then suddenly crash .
Explain that .
And then talk also about your concern about people being put on ventilators @ @ @ @ @ @ @ something like 85 % of people who have been put on ventilators die ?
DR. RICHARD LEVITAN : So , the rate of death on ventilators varies dramatically .
And unfortunately , the public has the perception that everybody who gets put on a ventilator dies .
It really depends how sick you are on presentation .
If you are elderly , if your lungs are terribly involved , you know , your mortality , being put on a ventilator , is high .
But among young people , actually , the death @ @ @ @ @ @ @ So , I don ’ t want the public to be scared that if their loved one winds up on a ventilator , that that necessarily means a death sentence .
But it is a bad thing when people get COVID pneumonia and they present late .
In terms of their presentation , we see all the time in emergency medicine that when people choke , when they drown , anything that affects oxygen going to the brain , when that happens quickly , patients pass out , or they have seizures .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ they come in with oximetry readings , pulse oximetry readings , oxygen saturation readings , half-normal , as low as 50 % .
And we normally have an oxygen saturation between 94 and 100 .
But so , these people are there with these incredibly low readings , and their brain is working fine , and they ’ re on their cellphone .
And what they have done , as an adaptation to this low oxygen caused by the pneumonia , is they have silently kind of increased their breathing rate over days @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they get either short of breath or a fever , but that happens late in the process .
Subjective shortness of breath is not something that the patients appreciate , because this disease basically silently advances until they get seriously ill. AMY GOODMAN : And so , you ’ re saying , when people are told , “ Do not go into the emergency room before you have that shortness of breath .
Just stay at home , ” can be a real problem , that people are holding off to the end @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ?
DR. RICHARD LEVITAN : Well , looking back on my own experience with COVID before I went to New York , and I was evaluating patients in the hospital , and we were sending out COVID tests , I followed what the CDC guidance was .
I told patients , “ Let us know if you get short of breath.
” There are , in fact , posters from the CDC that say , “ Do not go to the hospital if you have a cough or you have shortness of breath @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you have trouble breathing , you ’ re unable to be awoken , or you turn blue.
” Well , in hindsight , what I now appreciate is that a very , very small number of patients have subjective shortness of breath .
When they do get short of breath , they ’ re really ill .
So , the public messaging needs to change .
The public needs to know that earlier diagnosis , identification that you have COVID , and then monitoring with one of these little devices can warn you @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hospitalized .
And if you come in earlier , we can do much better treating your pneumonia , identifying how much inflammation there is , getting drugs into you , and other things .
AMY GOODMAN : Dr. Richard Levitan , you were incredibly brave to come from this rural area in New Hampshire to New York , come back to where you grew up , but to Bellevue , a city hospital , to say you want to offer your services .
We know the kind of threat you yourself put yourself @ @ @ @ @ @ @ so many doctors , nurses , staffers at hospitals , the people who clean up , are in that kind of situation every day .
And yet , when you came to New York to offer your services , can you describe what happened when you found a place to stay , your brother ’ s apartment , what the building did ?
DR. RICHARD LEVITAN : Yeah .
So , I got kicked out of my brother ’ s apartment when they found out I was working at Bellevue .
But , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that the people in New York City , the frontline healthcare workers , my friends in emergency medicine departments around the city , you know , they were in this fight for weeks before I arrived .
They ’ re still in this fight now .
I spent 10 days .
You know , the heroes here are the people who are in this for the long haul .
I just — AMY GOODMAN : But I just want to point out , here we are , based in New York City , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The building , the co-op that your brother is in , they kicked you out because you were a doctor who came in and were working at Bellevue ?
They said you couldn ’ t stay there ?
DR. RICHARD LEVITAN : You know , so , this pandemic , this virus , has scared a lot of people .
And , you know , as it turns out , yeah , that ’ s what landed me in a story in The New York Times .
But what ended up happening , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ days , was this amazing transformation in care , that , over time , we learned that a lot of patients with severe COVID pneumonia could actually be managed without ventilators .
And that realization actually led me to recontact Jim Dwyer at The New York Times , who had done the first article about me .
And he subsequently produced an incredible article , along with Robin Stein , who had an incredible video , discussing what doctors wished they had known a month ago .
And what it ended up doing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has changed .
And this is a great message for the public to understand , that — AMY GOODMAN : We have 10 seconds .
Ten seconds .
Go ahead , Dr. Levitan .
DR. RICHARD LEVITAN : Right .
So , about two out of three patients who we now see with COVID pneumonia , we can manage without ventilators .
AMY GOODMAN : Well , we ’ ll link to Jim Dwyer ’ s piece and your own op-ed piece .
Dr. Richard Levitan , thank you for coming to New @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Levitan is an emergency physician in Littleton , New Hampshire , volunteered at Bellevue Hospital , a public hospital in New York , for 10 days at the height of the COVID-19 surge in April .
That does it for our show .
A very Happy Birthday to Denis Moynihan !
Democracy Now !
is working with as few people on site as possible .
The majority of our amazing team is working from home .
I ’ m Amy Goodman .
Thanks so much for joining us .
Stay safe .

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: We turn now to our last segment. This is Democracy Now! The Quarantine Report. I’m Amy Goodman, as we look at the effort to save more lives as the coronavirus pandemic continues to rage across the United States and around the world. Even as President Trump presses states to begin reopening, he predicted Sunday the U.S. death toll from the pandemic could reach 100,000 — a number far higher than his earlier estimate a week or two ago of 60,000.
We’re joined now by Dr. Richard Levitan, an emergency physician who’s usually based in Littleton, New Hampshire, but he came down to New York to volunteer at one of the public hospitals, at Bellevue Hospital, where my dad used to work, in Manhattan, for 10 days at the height of the COVID-19 surge in April. He was shocked by what he saw. He wrote about what he learned in The New York Times op-ed headlined “The Infection That’s Silently Killing Coronavirus Patients.” In it, he writes, “I realized that we are not detecting the deadly pneumonia the virus causes early enough and that we could be doing more to keep patients off ventilators — and alive.”
Dr. Levitan, if you could tell us how exactly you do that? Welcome.
DR. RICHARD LEVITAN: Thank you for having me. For the last 30 years in medicine, we have used a fifth vital sign. So, the standard vital signs of heart rate, blood pressure, temperature, respiratory rate, we’ve added a fifth vital sign. That fifth vital sign is pulse oximetry. And what it does is it measures the saturation of oxygen in the blood. And what I noticed while working in New York is these patients came in with alarmingly low oxygen saturations, but they did not, subjectively, actually feel short of breath.
AMY GOODMAN: So, explain this oximeter. Explain exactly what it is. And interestingly, the inventor of the oximeter, Takuo Aoyagi — an ingenious and indispensable medical device, as many are describing it — just died, and his death was just announced.
DR. RICHARD LEVITAN: Yeah. So, if you’ve interacted with the healthcare system at all in the last 30 years, you’ve had a small probe placed on your finger. In the hospital, those probes connect up to our monitors. But there also now fingertip versions of this. And these devices are very inexpensive, and they are widely available. They are present or ready on every ambulance, in every hospital, in every doctor’s office, actually in every nursing home. They exist widely. And this device gives you two numbers. It gives you a heart rate, and it gives you an oxygen saturation.
And so, what is remarkable about this is that the cause of death in COVID, overwhelmingly, is pneumonia. Pneumonia triggers hospitalization, and often requirements for mechanical ventilation, and then all these problems ensue after the lungs get severely injured. And a pulse oximeter is just a measure of identifying how well the lungs are working, and, I believe, can be basically an early warning system in terms of patients to know who has COVID pneumonia.
AMY GOODMAN: So, describe what doctors all over the country, and nurses, are seeing in hospitals, something that they really haven’t seen before, where someone will be on their cellphone, they’ll be talking to the doctors and nurses, and then suddenly crash. Explain that. And then talk also about your concern about people being put on ventilators. What? At this point, something like 85% of people who have been put on ventilators die?
DR. RICHARD LEVITAN: So, the rate of death on ventilators varies dramatically. And unfortunately, the public has the perception that everybody who gets put on a ventilator dies. It really depends how sick you are on presentation. If you are elderly, if your lungs are terribly involved, you know, your mortality, being put on a ventilator, is high. But among young people, actually, the death rate on ventilators is much lower. So, I don’t want the public to be scared that if their loved one winds up on a ventilator, that that necessarily means a death sentence.
But it is a bad thing when people get COVID pneumonia and they present late. In terms of their presentation, we see all the time in emergency medicine that when people choke, when they drown, anything that affects oxygen going to the brain, when that happens quickly, patients pass out, or they have seizures. The remarkable thing about these patients are they come in with oximetry readings, pulse oximetry readings, oxygen saturation readings, half-normal, as low as 50%. And we normally have an oxygen saturation between 94 and 100. But so, these people are there with these incredibly low readings, and their brain is working fine, and they’re on their cellphone. And what they have done, as an adaptation to this low oxygen caused by the pneumonia, is they have silently kind of increased their breathing rate over days. And they only come in when they get either short of breath or a fever, but that happens late in the process. Subjective shortness of breath is not something that the patients appreciate, because this disease basically silently advances until they get seriously ill.
AMY GOODMAN: And so, you’re saying, when people are told, “Do not go into the emergency room before you have that shortness of breath. Just stay at home,” can be a real problem, that people are holding off to the end, when it could be too late?
DR. RICHARD LEVITAN: Well, looking back on my own experience with COVID before I went to New York, and I was evaluating patients in the hospital, and we were sending out COVID tests, I followed what the CDC guidance was. I told patients, “Let us know if you get short of breath.” There are, in fact, posters from the CDC that say, “Do not go to the hospital if you have a cough or you have shortness of breath. Only go to the hospital if you have trouble breathing, you’re unable to be awoken, or you turn blue.”
Well, in hindsight, what I now appreciate is that a very, very small number of patients have subjective shortness of breath. When they do get short of breath, they’re really ill. So, the public messaging needs to change. The public needs to know that earlier diagnosis, identification that you have COVID, and then monitoring with one of these little devices can warn you about the need to return and be hospitalized. And if you come in earlier, we can do much better treating your pneumonia, identifying how much inflammation there is, getting drugs into you, and other things.
AMY GOODMAN: Dr. Richard Levitan, you were incredibly brave to come from this rural area in New Hampshire to New York, come back to where you grew up, but to Bellevue, a city hospital, to say you want to offer your services. We know the kind of threat you yourself put yourself in, the dangerous situation, and so many doctors, nurses, staffers at hospitals, the people who clean up, are in that kind of situation every day. And yet, when you came to New York to offer your services, can you describe what happened when you found a place to stay, your brother’s apartment, what the building did?
DR. RICHARD LEVITAN: Yeah. So, I got kicked out of my brother’s apartment when they found out I was working at Bellevue. But, you know, let me just say that the people in New York City, the frontline healthcare workers, my friends in emergency medicine departments around the city, you know, they were in this fight for weeks before I arrived. They’re still in this fight now. I spent 10 days. You know, the heroes here are the people who are in this for the long haul. I just —
AMY GOODMAN: But I just want to point out, here we are, based in New York City, in the epicenter of the pandemic. The building, the co-op that your brother is in, they kicked you out because you were a doctor who came in and were working at Bellevue? They said you couldn’t stay there?
DR. RICHARD LEVITAN: You know, so, this pandemic, this virus, has scared a lot of people. And, you know, as it turns out, yeah, that’s what landed me in a story in The New York Times.
But what ended up happening, and over the course of my 10 days, was this amazing transformation in care, that, over time, we learned that a lot of patients with severe COVID pneumonia could actually be managed without ventilators. And that realization actually led me to recontact Jim Dwyer at The New York Times, who had done the first article about me. And he subsequently produced an incredible article, along with Robin Stein, who had an incredible video, discussing what doctors wished they had known a month ago. And what it ended up doing was kind of explaining how dramatically practice has changed. And this is a great message for the public to understand, that —
AMY GOODMAN: We have 10 seconds. Ten seconds. Go ahead, Dr. Levitan.
DR. RICHARD LEVITAN: Right. So, about two out of three patients who we now see with COVID pneumonia, we can manage without ventilators.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, we’ll link to Jim Dwyer’s piece and your own op-ed piece. Dr. Richard Levitan, thank you for coming to New York to help us here. Dr. Levitan is an emergency physician in Littleton, New Hampshire, volunteered at Bellevue Hospital, a public hospital in New York, for 10 days at the height of the COVID-19 surge in April.
That does it for our show. A very Happy Birthday to Denis Moynihan!
Democracy Now! is working with as few people on site as possible. The majority of our amazing team is working from home. I’m Amy Goodman. Thanks so much for joining us. Stay safe.


democracynow--2020-05-04--As Workers Get Sick & Die from COVID-19, McConnell Demands Corporate Immunity in New Stimulus Bill

This is a rush transcript .
Copy may not be in its final form .
AMY GOODMAN : This is Democracy Now !
The Quarantine Report .
I ’ m Amy Goodman .
As meatpackers around the U.S. face increasingly dire conditions , overwhelmingly immigrant and people of color , Republican lawmakers are ramping up their defense of corporate interests in the companies where workers are falling ill .
The Senate reconvenes today .
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is demanding Congress use the next stimulus bill to protect corporations from liability from workers who get sick with the coronavirus .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
AMY GOODMAN : Democrats have said they ’ ll oppose McConnell ’ s push for widespread corporate immunity .
For more , we ’ re joined by Rob Weissman , president of Public Citizen .
Robert Weissman , thanks so much for joining us .
We ’ ve been talking about the meatpackers .
Of course , this extends beyond the meat plants .
But can you talk about what Mitch McConnell is demanding ?
And is he actually holding the stimulus 4 package up to insert this in ?
ROBERT WEISSMAN @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to have total immunity for big corporations for really anything that ’ s remotely connected to the coronavirus crisis .
He ’ s reconvening the Senate today , he says , for the purpose of granting immunity to big corporations , and he says won ’ t let the next to stimulus-slash-relief bill go through unless it includes provisions to protect big corporations from lawsuits .
This is not just about , although it ’ s especially about , protecting employers from lawsuits for endangering their workers ; it ’ s also about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
It probably means protecting corporations from lawsuits over environment pollution , maybe even violations of the civil rights law , fair wage law and even more .
This is a long-term agenda of the Chamber of Commerce and big business .
Mitch McConnell sees an opportunity with the coronavirus to capitalize .
And he ’ s trying to get broad immunity for corporations for all the kinds of wrongdoing they might commit during the period of the crisis .
AMY GOODMAN : So , talk about exactly what this would mean .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ open , like one of these meatpacking plants , where they ’ re not provided — the workers are not provided with the proper protective gear , they often , for months , have not had tests , but if they don ’ t come to work , they ’ ll be fired , so their livelihoods are at stake .
They have no recourse ?
ROBERT WEISSMAN : Well , that ’ s what McConnell would like .
So , in fact , for workers , workers don ’ t have much @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
If you ’ re injured or become ill at the workplace , you ’ re entitled to workers ’ compensation .
It ’ s just a straight insurance system .
So you get paid for your time off , some portion , and compensation for your healthcare and any injury you may suffer .
But you can ’ t sue companies in court , normally .
The only time you can sue a company in court for an injury or exposure to an illness is when they engage in egregious misconduct , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , when McConnell says he wants to protect the companies from lawsuits , he mostly means he wants to protect their right to engage in egregious misconduct .
There ’ s one case that ’ s going on right now in Missouri that ’ s slightly different , involving meatpacking workers .
There , the workers are not suing for money damages .
They ’ re suing for injunctive relief to force the Smithfield meatpacking plant to adopt the sensible , minimal standards needed to protect workers who are going to be required @ @ @ @ @ @ @ them the protective equipment they need , to make sure there ’ s adequate sanitation , extended breaks , that they get adequate sick leave , that there ’ s testing and , crucially , that there ’ s sufficient distancing at the production line .
That ’ s the lawsuit that is the primary one that companies and Mitch McConnell are focusing on .
It doesn ’ t even ask for any money .
It only asks Smithfield to protect its workers .
AMY GOODMAN : So , Trump ’ s executive @ @ @ @ @ @ @ give them legal immunity ?
Can you talk about — well , Mother Jones had this piece , saying , “ Hours before publishing her Bloomberg story , [ reporter Jennifer ] Jacobs asked Trump what steps he would take to bolster the food supply under strain from COVID-19 .
His answer focused on the meat industry — and in particular Tyson Foods .
'He told us he will do an EO [ executive order ] to help Tyson Foods with a “ liability ” problem . '
” Rob Weissman ?
ROBERT @ @ @ @ @ @ @ did issue an executive order talking about the central importance of meat production to the U.S. food supply .
It does not , in fact , confer immunity on corporations .
And Trump can not do that under existing law on his own .
It does say companies should , if they ’ re sued , invoke his executive order and say , “ See , the president says we have to stay open.
” And in fact , Smithfield is doing that now in the Missouri case .
But it does not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ get immunity , they ’ re going to need a law passed by Congress .
And that ’ s exactly what Mitch McConnell is trying to do .
AMY GOODMAN : Rob Weissman , I want to thank you for being with us , president of Public Citizen .
And , of course , we ’ ll come back to you on many other issues .

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now! The Quarantine Report. I’m Amy Goodman. As meatpackers around the U.S. face increasingly dire conditions, overwhelmingly immigrant and people of color, Republican lawmakers are ramping up their defense of corporate interests in the companies where workers are falling ill. The Senate reconvenes today. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is demanding Congress use the next stimulus bill to protect corporations from liability from workers who get sick with the coronavirus. This is McConnell speaking on Fox News.
MAJORITY LEADER MITCH McCONNELL: We have brave healthcare workers battling this virus, entrepreneurs who will reopen their economy, all of whom deserve, in my view, strong protections from the opportunistic lawsuits that are being planned all over America, all over America. The lawyers, trial lawyers, are sharpening their pencils to come after healthcare providers and businesses, arguing that somehow the decision they made with regard to reopening adversely affected the health of someone else.
AMY GOODMAN: Democrats have said they’ll oppose McConnell’s push for widespread corporate immunity.
For more, we’re joined by Rob Weissman, president of Public Citizen.
Robert Weissman, thanks so much for joining us. We’ve been talking about the meatpackers. Of course, this extends beyond the meat plants. But can you talk about what Mitch McConnell is demanding? And is he actually holding the stimulus 4 package up to insert this in?
ROBERT WEISSMAN: Mitch McConnell is talking about trying to have total immunity for big corporations for really anything that’s remotely connected to the coronavirus crisis. He’s reconvening the Senate today, he says, for the purpose of granting immunity to big corporations, and he says won’t let the next to stimulus-slash-relief bill go through unless it includes provisions to protect big corporations from lawsuits.
This is not just about, although it’s especially about, protecting employers from lawsuits for endangering their workers; it’s also about lawsuits protecting companies from endangering their workers. It probably means protecting corporations from lawsuits over environment pollution, maybe even violations of the civil rights law, fair wage law and even more. This is a long-term agenda of the Chamber of Commerce and big business. Mitch McConnell sees an opportunity with the coronavirus to capitalize. And he’s trying to get broad immunity for corporations for all the kinds of wrongdoing they might commit during the period of the crisis.
AMY GOODMAN: So, talk about exactly what this would mean. I mean, when a corporation stays open, like one of these meatpacking plants, where they’re not provided — the workers are not provided with the proper protective gear, they often, for months, have not had tests, but if they don’t come to work, they’ll be fired, so their livelihoods are at stake. They have no recourse?
ROBERT WEISSMAN: Well, that’s what McConnell would like. So, in fact, for workers, workers don’t have much recourse anyway for dangers at the workplace. If you’re injured or become ill at the workplace, you’re entitled to workers’ compensation. It’s just a straight insurance system. So you get paid for your time off, some portion, and compensation for your healthcare and any injury you may suffer. But you can’t sue companies in court, normally. The only time you can sue a company in court for an injury or exposure to an illness is when they engage in egregious misconduct, reckless endangerment of the workers. So, when McConnell says he wants to protect the companies from lawsuits, he mostly means he wants to protect their right to engage in egregious misconduct.
There’s one case that’s going on right now in Missouri that’s slightly different, involving meatpacking workers. There, the workers are not suing for money damages. They’re suing for injunctive relief to force the Smithfield meatpacking plant to adopt the sensible, minimal standards needed to protect workers who are going to be required to go to work, to give them the protective equipment they need, to make sure there’s adequate sanitation, extended breaks, that they get adequate sick leave, that there’s testing and, crucially, that there’s sufficient distancing at the production line. That’s the lawsuit that is the primary one that companies and Mitch McConnell are focusing on. It doesn’t even ask for any money. It only asks Smithfield to protect its workers.
AMY GOODMAN: So, Trump’s executive order gives these plants — does it give them legal immunity? Can you talk about — well, Mother Jones had this piece, saying, “Hours before publishing her Bloomberg story, [reporter Jennifer] Jacobs asked Trump what steps he would take to bolster the food supply under strain from COVID-19. His answer focused on the meat industry — and in particular Tyson Foods. 'He told us he will do an EO [executive order] to help Tyson Foods with a “liability” problem.'” Rob Weissman?
ROBERT WEISSMAN: Right. So, Trump did issue an executive order talking about the central importance of meat production to the U.S. food supply. It does not, in fact, confer immunity on corporations. And Trump cannot do that under existing law on his own. It does say companies should, if they’re sued, invoke his executive order and say, “See, the president says we have to stay open.” And in fact, Smithfield is doing that now in the Missouri case. But it does not give them immunity. For them to get immunity, they’re going to need a law passed by Congress. And that’s exactly what Mitch McConnell is trying to do.
AMY GOODMAN: Rob Weissman, I want to thank you for being with us, president of Public Citizen. And, of course, we’ll come back to you on many other issues.


democracynow--2020-05-04--"It's Very Scary": COVID Surges in Meat Plants as Activists Demand Worker Safety & Meatless Mondays

This is a rush transcript .
Copy may not be in its final form .
AMY GOODMAN : This is Democracy Now !
, democracynow.org , The War and Peace Report .
I ’ m Amy Goodman .
We begin today ’ s show looking at the coronavirus outbreak in meatpacking plants across the United States as U.S. beef , pork and poultry processing plants face a public health crisis and a growing number of infected workers .
Last week , President Trump signed an executive order barring governments from closing meat plants .
The order declares meat plants as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ workers have died from COVID-19 ; more than 5,000 have fallen ill from the disease .
That number is expected to be far higher due to a lack of testing .
In Sioux Falls , South Dakota , at least a thousand people have tested positive for the virus at one Smithfield pork plant , accounting for more than half the confirmed cases in the entire state of South Dakota .
At least six workers at a JBS beef packing plant in Greeley , Colorado , have died from COVID-19 .
Despite this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ after a short closure , without testing all its workers .
And the Tyson Columbus Junction processing plant in Iowa reopened in late April despite the deaths of two workers from COVID-19 .
A meat worker from the Tyson plant spoke to Democracy Now !
about conditions there during the pandemic .
She ’ s an immigrant from Guanajuato , Mexico , and asked to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation .
AMY GOODMAN : President Trump ’ s executive order to keep meat plants running has sparked outrage over what it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in unsafe conditions .
On Friday , dozens of Bell & Evans workers and activists circled the poultry company ’ s Lebanon County , Pennsylvania , poultry processing plant in a funeral caravan , after two COVID-19 deaths and dozens of infections connected to the plant .
The protesters demanded an immediate shutdown of the plant and full pay for all workers until it can implement a plan to keep workers safe , including personal protective equipment , paid sick time and social distancing policies .
AMY GOODMAN : Over the weekend , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of United Latin American Citizens — joined a coalition of Iowa farmers , activists , workers and elected officials and community groups to announce the Meatless May Mondays campaign to draw attention to the conditions workers are facing .
Today , LULAC , which has more than 60 million members countrywide , is joining with Univision to host a virtual town hall on food worker safety with Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and members of Congress .
Well , for more , we ’ re joined by a number of guests .
In @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with us , CEO of LULAC .
And in Des Moines , Iowa , we ’ ll start with Alejandro , a local organizer whose immediate and extended family members work in meatpacking plants across Iowa , South Dakota and Nebraska , including Smithfield , Tyson and other meat plants .
Alejandro has asked us to use his first name only , out of concern for retaliation against his family .
We welcome you both to Democracy Now !
Sindy Benavides , we ’ re beginning with you , CEO of LULAC .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , where you ’ re joining with this coalition of groups calling for Meatless May Mondays , a kind of boycott of these meat corporations , this as President Trump has invoked the Defense Production Act , signing an executive order saying governments can not close down these hot spots , where , in some cases — one meatpacking plant alone , there are over 700 coronavirus-positive workers .
Can you talk about LULAC ’ s position and what you understand about the meatpacking industry in this country and who the meatpackers are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of all , thank you so much , Amy , for having me on .
As many of you may know , LULAC , the League of United Latin American Citizens , is the oldest and largest national Latino civil rights organization .
We ’ re about 91 years young , 91 years strong , and still going .
For 91 years , we have been protecting and defending the Latino community in the United States , in Puerto Rico , in Washington , D.C. And today , unfortunately , we find ourselves @ @ @ @ @ @ @ particular our meatpacking workers .
What we ’ re seeing on the ground and how we ’ re made up is that we have members who are volunteers for LULAC in over 37 states , Washington , D.C. , and Puerto Rico .
And some of those members happen to work in meatpacking plants and/or are relatives of folks that work in meatpacking plants .
And this is why , over a month ago , we started receiving complaints of individuals who were hearing that , unfortunately , their colleagues were getting sick @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by that particular industry or facility .
And so we got involved .
And over a month ago , we sent a letter to OSHA to ask for questions .
To this day , we have not heard back .
We have not gotten a response .
We also know that our LULAC members in Iowa , our state director , Nick Salazar , and Joe Henry , who serves as a senior adviser to our national president , have been working closely with our community in Iowa and also traveling to neighboring @ @ @ @ @ @ @ workers .
And just to give you an idea , in Columbus Junction , Iowa , we know that there ’ s already been multiple deaths there of people working .
And what we ’ re seeing , more than that , is that when President Trump enacted the Defense Production Act , what he is asking our community to do is to march into slaughterhouses and put their lives on the line .
What he is doing is a lack of acknowledgment and completely voiding and annulling a person ’ s right @ @ @ @ @ @ @ We know that more than 20,000 individuals have been impacted , have cases of COVID-19 , and that there ’ s over 20 deaths that have occurred .
However , we feel that these estimates are highly undercounted .
We think that it ’ s at least double , if not triple , those numbers .
And again , what we ’ re hearing from the workers and from their families is that , in many instances , the workers are being turned away by the clinics and hospitals in their community , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ over an hour and a half or two hours simply to get tested — and , on top , pay for the tests in order to know if they actually do have COVID cases .
AMY GOODMAN : Alejandro , if you could describe your family , what they face , the plants they live in — that they work in ?
ALEJANDRO : Definitely .
And thanks for having me , Amy .
Essentially , you know , in the surrounding area here in Iowa , there are countless meat and food @ @ @ @ @ @ @ seeing that these issues are across the board .
You know , this is industrywide practices , and that ’ s why we ’ re seeing this kind of pop up all over the state , essentially .
And as you mentioned , I have family working across the board , across the state and into some other states , in the industry .
So , you know , it ’ s very scary for my family , my immediate family , my extended family .
I have cousins who now have tested @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sister and her husband have tested positive here just recently because of these plants .
And again , just incredibly scared .
And this has just been consistent , even prior to the epidemic , that these have not been safe work conditions — very fast lines .
These are workers that are standing on their feet for hours , overworked , working extended hours in a day and working , often forced , weekends .
So these are very hard workers that are very dedicated to that work to provide for their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they aren ’ t there right now , why these companies , many of them , are a lot — I mean , have a lot less workers right now , is because they ’ re scared .
They want to do the work .
I ’ ve been talking to families , to workers almost every day for the last couple of weeks , and they ’ ve been telling me that they want to work , but they want to be able to do it safely .
So , you know @ @ @ @ @ @ @ when they finally started introducing masks , not that they ’ re very protective masks , but they started introducing masks just two weeks ago , even though we have known about what ’ s been going on for months .
So it ’ s very clear that these companies , that they didn ’ t take the safety precautions .
And essentially , they have a system in place that doesn ’ t prioritize the safety of workers , which is largely why we are seeing all of this .
ALEJANDRO : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ — go ahead .
AMY GOODMAN : I wanted to read what John Tyson , the billionaire chair of the board of Tyson Foods , recently warned in a full-page ad in several newspapers , as well on the company ’ s website : quote , “ There will be limited supply of our products available in grocery stores until we are able to reopen our facilities that are currently closed .
… The food supply chain is breaking , ” he said .
It wasn ’ t days later that the president @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Production Act , said that no government , you know , no governor , could shut down a plant .
But is it the coronavirus that is breaking the food supply , or is it these corporations that did not early on provide the PPE , the protective gear , that workers needed , the social distancing required ?
Alejandro , I wanted to put that question to you .
And also , if you can talk about — right now , as we ’ re broadcasting , Univision is having a special @ @ @ @ @ @ @ workers , like one of your colleagues , yet another daughter or son of workers in the plants .
If you could talk about your organization ?
You speak English .
You ’ re a kind of a translator for your families who are working and getting sick in the plants .
ALEJANDRO : Definitely .
And , you know , in terms of what the Tyson ’ s head said there in regards to the food supply chain , I think that ’ s something that a lot of us are seeing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ m concerned about being able to feed America , and so are the workers .
But if that was truly what they prioritized , if what they were prioritizing was ensuring that we have a food supply chain , essentially , then they would be making sure that the workers are able to do their jobs safely .
And they ’ re not doing that .
And it ’ s kind of sad to see even other leaders blaming the workers , the immigrants , for what ’ s going on , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it is because they didn ’ t take the safety precautions , because of the culture where they ’ re encouraging people to come in or not letting them go home when they ’ re sick .
It ’ s because of these long-existing practices that — and the structure , this dynamic between leadership and workers , where workers don ’ t have a voice .
That largely feeds into why , as you mentioned , it ’ s the children of the workers .
You know , I was seeing that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ situation , which is my cousins , my siblings , my former classmates from high school , we were kind of just screaming out to the void .
You know , we were afraid for our parents .
But there really wasn ’ t much talk there .
You know , there wasn ’ t any noise .
So , in order to create a group where we were able to come together , the families and the community , different allies , to start bringing awareness , start addressing what ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ really identifying what they need , because , again , I ’ m not here to speak on behalf and tell you what they need , I ’ m just here to say that these workers need a voice .
And , you know , these executive orders , these different things that , say , Mitch McConnell and other leaders are touting , are essentially just finding new ways to limit that voice .
These workers don ’ t have protections .
These companies aren ’ t being held accountable , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , so that makes it even harder to be accountable .
And having a situation where workers can ’ t even take legal action , or the communities can ’ t rally around and force governments to take this seriously , and potentially , if what — AMY GOODMAN : And we ’ re going to talk about that issue of corporate responsibility , the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell holding up stimulus package for , until he can get inserted into it that corporations are not responsible for what happens during COVID @ @ @ @ @ @ @ also speak with Rob Weissman , head of Public Citizen , let ’ s turn again to the Tyson processing plant worker in Columbus Junction , Iowa , who spoke to Democracy Now !
but asked we not use her name because of fear of retaliation .
She said this is her message to Tyson and other meat industry corporations .
AMY GOODMAN : In an interview with BuzzFeed News , a Smithfield Foods spokesperson blamed the South Dakota plant ’ s , quote , “ large immigrant population ” for the rapid @ @ @ @ @ @ @ explained , quote , “ Living circumstances in certain cultures are different than they are with your traditional American family.
” I wanted to go back to Sindy Benavides to respond to this , the CEO of LULAC .
SINDY BENAVIDES : Thank you , Amy .
And , you know , first and foremost , I can certainly understand the pain that our community is feeling and the fear .
And Alejandro talked about this .
There are so many in our community who have reached out to LULAC , given us @ @ @ @ @ @ @ name , for fear of retaliation .
And we also know that many of them are being told internally that if they are not at work , they will not get paid , and/or worse , that they could get fired , even when some of these same companies are touting externally that they ’ re willing to pay the workers additional money or give them bonuses .
So , which one is it ?
Is it , one , the managers internally telling the workers that they will get fired and/or not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or is it really what ’ s being publicized externally ?
I can tell you , when we look at this particular industry , you have to really look at it from the very beginning to end .
Yes , many of the workers actually commute in together to work , to the plants .
Many of them also , like many Americans , have multigenerational homes , where you may have the parents , the children and/or the grandparents in the same household .
And I know that this is not only @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s also true to many immigrant and American families across this country .
More worrisome is the fact that some of these facilities , even more than a month ago , when they started seeing the cases pop up , did not take the urgent steps to make sure that the workers were protected , making sure that they had protection gear in place .
And I just want Americans to stop for a minute , for all of us who go to the grocery store , and for the one hour or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that face mask , it ’ s so uncomfortable .
Can you just imagine workers who are working for eight to 10 to 12-plus hours ?
We know , because there have been so many incidents of COVID cases , that our workers are being asked to work even longer shifts or work additional shifts .
And we know this from different members across the country .
In fact , our state director , Madaí , her father , who has worked in this industry for over 30 years , reported that he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ up shifts , unvoluntarily at times , to make sure that the production keeps going .
And so , what are we asking ?
We are asking the companies to put safety measures in place , to make sure that there are longer breaks so you don ’ t have a line of people waiting at the restroom close together .
We ’ re asking them to put sneeze guards , plastics , in between workers and to make sure that they in fact are following CDC and OSHA guidelines in terms of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ one more thing .
We also know that in various facilities across this country , in many facilities , there are workers who may speak more than 40 different languages .
And so it ’ s not enough to put a poster up on a wall that says , “ Please practice social distancing six feet apart , ” if you don ’ t explain it , if you don ’ t have the education awareness about what social distancing is , and , in fact , even making sure that the shifts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ staggered .
Oftentimes , where people sit to eat , they ’ re eating elbow to elbow .
Where they are working , they ’ re elbow to elbow , oftentimes even not having the ventilation that ’ s required for them to be in a safe place .
And so , as we hear of the companies , you know , and the different cases that have occurred , again , our ask is very simple : Please make sure that the workers are in a safe place , where they don @ @ @ @ @ @ @ walking or marching into a slaughterhouse and their life is on the line .
What we ’ re asking is : If you had your child or your parent or your sibling working in that same line , would you not want them to have the safety conditions , so that they don ’ t feel afraid to walk into work and think that they will unfortunately come down with a COVID case and potentially die ?
We are asking for basic protections , protections at work , that help our community to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sure that all of Americans are able to enjoy meat and pork and poultry .
We stand with the workers .
We want to make sure that all workers across America , but particularly our workers who are facing high cases of COVID cases due to the lack of safety , are protected .
And so , with that , Amy , I will tell you that this is a difficult situation .
We understand that there ’ s political games at play here .
We understand that there ’ s an election @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that the slow reaction by the federal government , the slow reaction by corporations , and the lack of action have placed people ’ s lives on the line , and we ’ ve already had multiple deaths .
AMY GOODMAN : We want to thank you so much for being with us , and we are not leaving the story here , Sindy Benavides , CEO of LULAC , and Alejandro , an organizer in Iowa whose immediate and extended family members work in meatpacking plants .
When we come back , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a guest who will talk about this demand by the Senate majority leader , Mitch McConnell , to absolve corporations of any responsibility during the pandemic .
We ’ ll speak with Public Citizen ’ s head , Rob Weissman .
Stay with us .
AMY GOODMAN : “ No Discrimination ” by the great Tony Allen and Africa ’ 70 .
Allen is the drummer who created the beat of Afrobeat .
He died last week at the age of 79 .

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman. We begin today’s show looking at the coronavirus outbreak in meatpacking plants across the United States as U.S. beef, pork and poultry processing plants face a public health crisis and a growing number of infected workers.
Last week, President Trump signed an executive order barring governments from closing meat plants. The order declares meat plants as critical infrastructure. At least 20 meatpacking workers have died from COVID-19; more than 5,000 have fallen ill from the disease. That number is expected to be far higher due to a lack of testing.
In Sioux Falls, South Dakota, at least a thousand people have tested positive for the virus at one Smithfield pork plant, accounting for more than half the confirmed cases in the entire state of South Dakota. At least six workers at a JBS beef packing plant in Greeley, Colorado, have died from COVID-19. Despite this, the plant reopened last week, after a short closure, without testing all its workers.
And the Tyson Columbus Junction processing plant in Iowa reopened in late April despite the deaths of two workers from COVID-19. A meat worker from the Tyson plant spoke to Democracy Now! about conditions there during the pandemic. She’s an immigrant from Guanajuato, Mexico, and asked to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation.
TYSON WORKER: [translated] There was a young man that I know was still going to work even though he said he had been sick for two weeks. I don’t know why Tyson didn’t detect that, that people who were sick were still going to work. This only made things worse. Later, I realized that a lot of people at that plant were infected. A man who had worked there died, and there were a lot of people in critical condition at the hospital. I’m not sure if they’re still there, because, truthfully, I haven’t left my house or spoken to anyone recently, so I’m not sure of what the status of their health is. But I know many people were at the hospital in critical condition, and they are all people who work at Tyson.
AMY GOODMAN: President Trump’s executive order to keep meat plants running has sparked outrage over what it means for workers being forced to work in unsafe conditions. On Friday, dozens of Bell & Evans workers and activists circled the poultry company’s Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, poultry processing plant in a funeral caravan, after two COVID-19 deaths and dozens of infections connected to the plant. The protesters demanded an immediate shutdown of the plant and full pay for all workers until it can implement a plan to keep workers safe, including personal protective equipment, paid sick time and social distancing policies.
PROTESTER: Bell & Evans has gone radio silent while their workers die. That’s unacceptable. We demand Bell & Evans to tell us how many workers are infected and how many workers have died. We need to know how many other workers have been infected by the failures of this company.
AMY GOODMAN: Over the weekend, LULAC — that’s the League of United Latin American Citizens — joined a coalition of Iowa farmers, activists, workers and elected officials and community groups to announce the Meatless May Mondays campaign to draw attention to the conditions workers are facing. Today, LULAC, which has more than 60 million members countrywide, is joining with Univision to host a virtual town hall on food worker safety with Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and members of Congress.
Well, for more, we’re joined by a number of guests. In Washington, D.C., Sindy Benavides is with us, CEO of LULAC. And in Des Moines, Iowa, we’ll start with Alejandro, a local organizer whose immediate and extended family members work in meatpacking plants across Iowa, South Dakota and Nebraska, including Smithfield, Tyson and other meat plants. Alejandro has asked us to use his first name only, out of concern for retaliation against his family.
We welcome you both to Democracy Now! Sindy Benavides, we’re beginning with you, CEO of LULAC. I watched your news conference on Friday, where you’re joining with this coalition of groups calling for Meatless May Mondays, a kind of boycott of these meat corporations, this as President Trump has invoked the Defense Production Act, signing an executive order saying governments cannot close down these hot spots, where, in some cases — one meatpacking plant alone, there are over 700 coronavirus-positive workers. Can you talk about LULAC’s position and what you understand about the meatpacking industry in this country and who the meatpackers are?
SINDY BENAVIDES: Sure. First of all, thank you so much, Amy, for having me on.
As many of you may know, LULAC, the League of United Latin American Citizens, is the oldest and largest national Latino civil rights organization. We’re about 91 years young, 91 years strong, and still going. For 91 years, we have been protecting and defending the Latino community in the United States, in Puerto Rico, in Washington, D.C. And today, unfortunately, we find ourselves still protecting and defending our community, particular our meatpacking workers.
What we’re seeing on the ground and how we’re made up is that we have members who are volunteers for LULAC in over 37 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. And some of those members happen to work in meatpacking plants and/or are relatives of folks that work in meatpacking plants. And this is why, over a month ago, we started receiving complaints of individuals who were hearing that, unfortunately, their colleagues were getting sick, and this was not being reported by that particular industry or facility.
And so we got involved. And over a month ago, we sent a letter to OSHA to ask for questions. To this day, we have not heard back. We have not gotten a response. We also know that our LULAC members in Iowa, our state director, Nick Salazar, and Joe Henry, who serves as a senior adviser to our national president, have been working closely with our community in Iowa and also traveling to neighboring states to understand the conditions of the workers. And just to give you an idea, in Columbus Junction, Iowa, we know that there’s already been multiple deaths there of people working.
And what we’re seeing, more than that, is that when President Trump enacted the Defense Production Act, what he is asking our community to do is to march into slaughterhouses and put their lives on the line. What he is doing is a lack of acknowledgment and completely voiding and annulling a person’s right to work in a safe place.
We know that more than 20,000 individuals have been impacted, have cases of COVID-19, and that there’s over 20 deaths that have occurred. However, we feel that these estimates are highly undercounted. We think that it’s at least double, if not triple, those numbers. And again, what we’re hearing from the workers and from their families is that, in many instances, the workers are being turned away by the clinics and hospitals in their community, and they’re having to drive over an hour and a half or two hours simply to get tested — and, on top, pay for the tests in order to know if they actually do have COVID cases.
AMY GOODMAN: Alejandro, if you could describe your family, what they face, the plants they live in — that they work in?
ALEJANDRO: Definitely. And thanks for having me, Amy.
Essentially, you know, in the surrounding area here in Iowa, there are countless meat and food processing plants, and we’re seeing that these issues are across the board. You know, this is industrywide practices, and that’s why we’re seeing this kind of pop up all over the state, essentially.
And as you mentioned, I have family working across the board, across the state and into some other states, in the industry. So, you know, it’s very scary for my family, my immediate family, my extended family. I have cousins who now have tested positive because of these plants. My sister and her husband have tested positive here just recently because of these plants. And again, just incredibly scared.
And this has just been consistent, even prior to the epidemic, that these have not been safe work conditions — very fast lines. These are workers that are standing on their feet for hours, overworked, working extended hours in a day and working, often forced, weekends.
So these are very hard workers that are very dedicated to that work to provide for their families. But the only reason that they aren’t there right now, why these companies, many of them, are a lot — I mean, have a lot less workers right now, is because they’re scared. They want to do the work. I’ve been talking to families, to workers almost every day for the last couple of weeks, and they’ve been telling me that they want to work, but they want to be able to do it safely.
So, you know, just even two weeks ago is when they finally started introducing masks, not that they’re very protective masks, but they started introducing masks just two weeks ago, even though we have known about what’s been going on for months. So it’s very clear that these companies, that they didn’t take the safety precautions. And essentially, they have a system in place that doesn’t prioritize the safety of workers, which is largely why we are seeing all of this.
AMY GOODMAN: Um —
ALEJANDRO: Again, you know, they talk — go ahead.
AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to read what John Tyson, the billionaire chair of the board of Tyson Foods, recently warned in a full-page ad in several newspapers, as well on the company’s website: quote, “There will be limited supply of our products available in grocery stores until we are able to reopen our facilities that are currently closed. … The food supply chain is breaking,” he said. It wasn’t days later that the president, President Trump, invoking the Defense Production Act, said that no government, you know, no governor, could shut down a plant.
But is it the coronavirus that is breaking the food supply, or is it these corporations that did not early on provide the PPE, the protective gear, that workers needed, the social distancing required? Alejandro, I wanted to put that question to you. And also, if you can talk about — right now, as we’re broadcasting, Univision is having a special, where they are bringing on different workers, like one of your colleagues, yet another daughter or son of workers in the plants. If you could talk about your organization? You speak English. You’re a kind of a translator for your families who are working and getting sick in the plants.
ALEJANDRO: Definitely. And, you know, in terms of what the Tyson’s head said there in regards to the food supply chain, I think that’s something that a lot of us are seeing. You know, of course I’m concerned about being able to feed America, and so are the workers. But if that was truly what they prioritized, if what they were prioritizing was ensuring that we have a food supply chain, essentially, then they would be making sure that the workers are able to do their jobs safely. And they’re not doing that.
And it’s kind of sad to see even other leaders blaming the workers, the immigrants, for what’s going on, when it’s very clear that it is because they didn’t take the safety precautions, because of the culture where they’re encouraging people to come in or not letting them go home when they’re sick.
It’s because of these long-existing practices that — and the structure, this dynamic between leadership and workers, where workers don’t have a voice. That largely feeds into why, as you mentioned, it’s the children of the workers. You know, I was seeing that a lot of people in my similar situation, which is my cousins, my siblings, my former classmates from high school, we were kind of just screaming out to the void. You know, we were afraid for our parents. But there really wasn’t much talk there. You know, there wasn’t any noise. So, in order to create a group where we were able to come together, the families and the community, different allies, to start bringing awareness, start addressing what’s going on, talking to workers and really identifying what they need, because, again, I’m not here to speak on behalf and tell you what they need, I’m just here to say that these workers need a voice.
And, you know, these executive orders, these different things that, say, Mitch McConnell and other leaders are touting, are essentially just finding new ways to limit that voice. These workers don’t have protections. These companies aren’t being held accountable, and they’re not even taking responsibility, so that makes it even harder to be accountable. And having a situation where workers can’t even take legal action, or the communities can’t rally around and force governments to take this seriously, and potentially, if what —
AMY GOODMAN: And we’re going to talk about that issue of corporate responsibility, the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell holding up stimulus package for, until he can get inserted into it that corporations are not responsible for what happens during COVID. But before we do that and also speak with Rob Weissman, head of Public Citizen, let’s turn again to the Tyson processing plant worker in Columbus Junction, Iowa, who spoke to Democracy Now! but asked we not use her name because of fear of retaliation. She said this is her message to Tyson and other meat industry corporations.
TYSON WORKER: [translated] I would like it if they treated people with more respect, with more love, to be considerate of us, the people who are working there out of necessity. We’re not there for them to destroy our lives or our bodies. They need to be more conscious of taking care of people. It is because of the people that they are able to do what they do. Why not take care of people? Why not make sure we don’t get hurt? I’ve never liked this, that they don’t pay any attention to people’s well-being. They should be more humane. Don’t just think about money, but think about the workers that are helping the company make that money.
AMY GOODMAN: In an interview with BuzzFeed News, a Smithfield Foods spokesperson blamed the South Dakota plant’s, quote, “large immigrant population” for the rapid spread of the coronavirus. The spokesperson explained, quote, “Living circumstances in certain cultures are different than they are with your traditional American family.” I wanted to go back to Sindy Benavides to respond to this, the CEO of LULAC.
SINDY BENAVIDES: Thank you, Amy. And, you know, first and foremost, I can certainly understand the pain that our community is feeling and the fear. And Alejandro talked about this. There are so many in our community who have reached out to LULAC, given us only their first name or a different name, for fear of retaliation.
And we also know that many of them are being told internally that if they are not at work, they will not get paid, and/or worse, that they could get fired, even when some of these same companies are touting externally that they’re willing to pay the workers additional money or give them bonuses. So, which one is it? Is it, one, the managers internally telling the workers that they will get fired and/or not get paid if they get sick, or is it really what’s being publicized externally?
I can tell you, when we look at this particular industry, you have to really look at it from the very beginning to end. Yes, many of the workers actually commute in together to work, to the plants. Many of them also, like many Americans, have multigenerational homes, where you may have the parents, the children and/or the grandparents in the same household. And I know that this is not only true to Latinos, but it’s also true to many immigrant and American families across this country. More worrisome is the fact that some of these facilities, even more than a month ago, when they started seeing the cases pop up, did not take the urgent steps to make sure that the workers were protected, making sure that they had protection gear in place.
And I just want Americans to stop for a minute, for all of us who go to the grocery store, and for the one hour or two hours that we’re wearing that face mask, it’s so uncomfortable. Can you just imagine workers who are working for eight to 10 to 12-plus hours? We know, because there have been so many incidents of COVID cases, that our workers are being asked to work even longer shifts or work additional shifts. And we know this from different members across the country. In fact, our state director, Madaí, her father, who has worked in this industry for over 30 years, reported that he’s having to work and pick up shifts, unvoluntarily at times, to make sure that the production keeps going.
And so, what are we asking? We are asking the companies to put safety measures in place, to make sure that there are longer breaks so you don’t have a line of people waiting at the restroom close together. We’re asking them to put sneeze guards, plastics, in between workers and to make sure that they in fact are following CDC and OSHA guidelines in terms of social distancing.
And here’s one more thing. We also know that in various facilities across this country, in many facilities, there are workers who may speak more than 40 different languages. And so it’s not enough to put a poster up on a wall that says, “Please practice social distancing six feet apart,” if you don’t explain it, if you don’t have the education awareness about what social distancing is, and, in fact, even making sure that the shifts are staggered and that the breaks are staggered. Oftentimes, where people sit to eat, they’re eating elbow to elbow. Where they are working, they’re elbow to elbow, oftentimes even not having the ventilation that’s required for them to be in a safe place.
And so, as we hear of the companies, you know, and the different cases that have occurred, again, our ask is very simple: Please make sure that the workers are in a safe place, where they don’t fear like they’re walking or marching into a slaughterhouse and their life is on the line. What we’re asking is: If you had your child or your parent or your sibling working in that same line, would you not want them to have the safety conditions, so that they don’t feel afraid to walk into work and think that they will unfortunately come down with a COVID case and potentially die? We are asking for basic protections, protections at work, that help our community to keep the line flowing, to make sure that all of Americans are able to enjoy meat and pork and poultry. We stand with the workers. We want to make sure that all workers across America, but particularly our workers who are facing high cases of COVID cases due to the lack of safety, are protected.
And so, with that, Amy, I will tell you that this is a difficult situation. We understand that there’s political games at play here. We understand that there’s an election coming. But the bottom line is that the slow reaction by the federal government, the slow reaction by corporations, and the lack of action have placed people’s lives on the line, and we’ve already had multiple deaths.
AMY GOODMAN: We want to thank you so much for being with us, and we are not leaving the story here, Sindy Benavides, CEO of LULAC, and Alejandro, an organizer in Iowa whose immediate and extended family members work in meatpacking plants.
When we come back, we’re going to speak with a guest who will talk about this demand by the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, to absolve corporations of any responsibility during the pandemic. We’ll speak with Public Citizen’s head, Rob Weissman. Stay with us.
[break]
AMY GOODMAN: “No Discrimination” by the great Tony Allen and Africa ’70. Allen is the drummer who created the beat of Afrobeat. He died last week at the age of 79.