Meatpacking, farm workers to get $600 grants

Meatpacking workers and farm workers who were severely affected by the coronavirus pandemic will be eligible to get grants of up to $600 per person as part of a new $700 million aid program the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Tuesday.

Officials said the grants are meant to defray some of the costs workers bore as many of them bought their own protective equipment or took unpaid leave as the virus tore through their industries even as they were required to keep showing up for work.

The United Food and Commercial Workers union — which represents roughly 80 percent of the nation's beef and pork workers and 33 percent of its poultry workers — estimates at least 132 meatpacking workers died of COVID-19 and at least 22,000 workers have been infected or exposed to the virus.

At the height of the outbreaks last spring, the meat industry's production fell to about 60 percent of normal levels as a number of major plants were forced temporarily to close for deep cleaning and safety upgrades or were forced to work at slower speeds because of a shortage of workers.

For instance, more than 1,300 Smithfield workers were sickened and four died last year when the virus rampaged the company's Sioux Falls, S.D., plant. At a major pork plant in Waterloo, more than 1,000 of the Tyson Foods plant's 2,800 workers were infected and at least six died.

The grants to workers will be handed out by an assortment of not-for-profit groups that apply to work with the government. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said he hoped to keep administrative costs and requirements to apply for the money to a minimum so more workers could be helped.

A small part of the aid package worth $20 million will provide grants to grocery store workers as part of a pilot program.