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Featured Image: Bell & Evans Funeral Protest (CREDIT: Make the Road PA)
“We are working so hard to support our families, and we want to get to our job safely, free from infection, and return home the same way”
Today, more than 30 cars circled the Bell & Evans poultry processing plant in a somber caravan, demanding the company implement immediate protections for workers after two COVID-19 deaths and dozens of infections connected to the plant. Bell & Evans, the second largest employer in Lebanon County, failed to protect workers’ safety, failing to provide them with appropriate protective equipment or to offer paid sick time to all workers, contributing to a COVID-19 crisis at the plant whose scale remains unknown. Workers and activists demanded that Bell & Evans immediately shut down the plant with full pay for all workers, until they have a plan to keep all workers safe on the job, including personal protective equipment, paid sick time for all workers, and social distancing policies.
Bell & Evans has refused to release any information on how many workers have been infected or have died at the plant, and instead has waged an internal campaign to silence workers, with supervisors calling workers offering back pay and encouraging them to not speak out about working conditions. The funeral procession honored the lives of two people who have died from infections related to the plant: Arismendi Beras, a Make the Road PA member and Bell & Evans worker, and Rafael Ferrerias, the husband of another infected Bell & Evans worker.
“Many people from Bell & Evans have been hospitalized with the virus, and it is not fair that we must go to a job that isn’t safe or sanitized. We are working so hard to support our families, and we want to get to our job safely, free from infection, and return home the same way,” said one Bell & Evans worker, who asked to not be named for fear of losing their job.
“Bell & Evans is prioritizing their own PR above the lives of their workers: They must tell us how many workers have died and how many have been infected, and make immediate changes to prevent more deaths,” said Patty Torres, Organizing Director for Make the Road PA, which has been working closely with Bell & Evans workers. “Going to work shouldn’t be a death sentence, and thousands of lives are on the line. If Bell & Evans cannot keep their employees safe, they cannot continue to operate. They must shut down the plant with full pay for workers until they have a plan with protections to keep workers safe.”
“If Bell & Evans had protected their workers, my dad might still be alive today. My dad stayed home in Reading, but my step-mom was still going to work at Bell & Evans, and kept going even after she felt sick, because she was afraid of losing her job. She got sick working at Bell & Evans, and passed it on to my dad, and he died,” said Rafael Ferreiras, a member-leader of Make the Road PA, whose father recently died of COVID-19. “We can’t bring my dad back, but Bell & Evans can act now and save somebody else’s father.”
“Workers are afraid to go back to work because we don’t feel protected there: We didn’t have enough PPE, and if I called out sick, I didn’t get full pay,” said another Bell & Evans worker, who asked to not be named for fear of losing their job.
United States meat packing plants, where 37% of workers are immigrants, are major COVID-19 hotspots, accounting for more than 6,500 infections and at least 22 deaths. After many plants closed because workers contracted the virus, President Trump ordered plants to continue operating amid the pandemic. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has been flooded with complaints of unsafe conditions, but the agency has refused to use its authority to force employers to comply with COVID-19 safety guidelines.
Make the Road Pennsylvania, the largest Latinx organization in Pennsylvania, has worked closely with workers to sound the alarm on Bell & Evans’ dangerous conditions and to demand protections for workers. The organization is demanding that Bell & Evans immediately shut down the plant for a deep cleaning with full pay for all workers, until management has a plan to keep employees safe on the job, including personal protective equipment, paid sick time for all workers, and social distancing policies.
Information provided to TVL by:
Make The Road PA
https://www.maketheroadpa.org/
