John Oliver, host of the HBO show “Last Week Tonight,” compared working conditions at meatpacking plants to factory farms by outlining poor working conditions and safety violations for line workers.
Oliver cited the betting pool at Tyson’s Waterloo, IA, plant by supervisors and the “paltry” fines against Tyson Foods, Inc. regarding working conditions and deaths at their plants during the COVID-19 outbreak.
The show prompted a statement by the North American Meat Institute (NAMI) to dispute Oliver’s assertions. “The protection of the 500,000 men and women whose hard work and dedication keep meat in Americans’ refrigerators and our farm economy working during this pandemic is not a joke,” said Julie Anna Potts, president and CEO of NAMI. NAMI stated worker injuries have decreased by 77 percent since 1999, and the rate of COVID-19 infections is “three times lower for meat and poultry workers than the general public.”
