1
00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:04,800
Speaker 1: In March of twenty twenty, Mida Mendez was living in Lincoln, Nebraska.

2
00:00:05,160 --> 00:00:08,240
Speaker 1: She was working as an administrator at a public school,

3
00:00:09,080 --> 00:00:12,040
Speaker 1: and then she got a call from her mom. It

4
00:00:12,160 --> 00:00:13,840
Speaker 1: was about their upcoming vacation.

5
00:00:14,440 --> 00:00:16,880
Speaker 2: She called in and asked me to call in and

6
00:00:16,920 --> 00:00:19,560
Speaker 2: cancel the flights and see what their options were. And

7
00:00:19,640 --> 00:00:21,640
Speaker 2: I think that's when it kind of hit me that

8
00:00:22,120 --> 00:00:25,120
Speaker 2: coronavirus was in Nebraska.

9
00:00:25,640 --> 00:00:28,800
Speaker 1: They had planned to visit family in Mexico, but they

10
00:00:28,840 --> 00:00:32,319
Speaker 1: decided with the virus, it was a bad idea for

11
00:00:32,360 --> 00:00:36,040
Speaker 1: her mom to travel. Mida's mom had recently lost a

12
00:00:36,120 --> 00:00:41,320
Speaker 1: kidney to cancer and was undergoing chemotherapy again, this time

13
00:00:41,560 --> 00:00:42,760
Speaker 1: for lung cancer.

14
00:00:42,960 --> 00:00:44,640
Speaker 2: It's been about a year and a half since she's

15
00:00:44,680 --> 00:00:47,480
Speaker 2: been on the last the latest treatment, and that one

16
00:00:47,479 --> 00:00:50,160
Speaker 2: seems to work well. The spots in her lung they're

17
00:00:50,200 --> 00:00:53,600
Speaker 2: not necessarily getting bigger and they're slowly shrinking. But the

18
00:00:53,680 --> 00:00:56,680
Speaker 2: doctor did say that it's a it's a long process,

19
00:00:56,880 --> 00:00:58,000
Speaker 2: slow process.

20
00:00:58,440 --> 00:01:02,200
Speaker 1: And then the family made decision. Myra's parents both have

21
00:01:02,360 --> 00:01:06,360
Speaker 1: jobs at a meat packing plant in Nebraska. Because their

22
00:01:06,400 --> 00:01:09,959
Speaker 1: mom could be exposed to the coronavirus at work, they

23
00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:12,760
Speaker 1: decided that mom should not go back to work.

24
00:01:13,480 --> 00:01:18,000
Speaker 2: I think I just always worry about not having her

25
00:01:18,840 --> 00:01:19,520
Speaker 2: her dad.

26
00:01:20,080 --> 00:01:23,880
Speaker 1: He returned to the plant for financial reasons, but Mida

27
00:01:24,040 --> 00:01:27,560
Speaker 1: was worried if her dad brought the virus home, it

28
00:01:27,640 --> 00:01:29,480
Speaker 1: could be deadly for her mom.

29
00:01:30,480 --> 00:01:32,760
Speaker 2: And I started asking him, like, you know, what kind

30
00:01:32,760 --> 00:01:34,440
Speaker 2: of a protection are they giving you?

31
00:01:34,520 --> 00:01:35,800
Speaker 3: Do you have face masks?

32
00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:38,800
Speaker 2: He said, they're giving us masks, And I said, what

33
00:01:38,840 --> 00:01:41,120
Speaker 2: does a mass look like. He said, it's like the

34
00:01:41,160 --> 00:01:44,440
Speaker 2: beard net, but it's a full faced one. And so

35
00:01:44,520 --> 00:01:46,080
Speaker 2: then that's when I was like, that's not going to

36
00:01:46,160 --> 00:01:49,760
Speaker 2: protect you. You're still breathing in air through those holes.

37
00:01:49,840 --> 00:01:51,960
Speaker 2: Like that does nothing for Mida.

38
00:01:52,160 --> 00:01:56,040
Speaker 1: This was the first red flag, and then on April sixteenth,

39
00:01:56,360 --> 00:01:59,919
Speaker 1: the meatpacking plant where he worked, a place called smith

40
00:02:00,760 --> 00:02:03,800
Speaker 1: confirmed its first case of COVID nineteen.

41
00:02:04,400 --> 00:02:05,080
Speaker 3: That's when.

42
00:02:06,520 --> 00:02:09,960
Speaker 2: My dad started to kind of get scared too, Like

43
00:02:10,040 --> 00:02:12,800
Speaker 2: at first, it's kind of like, it's not it's not

44
00:02:12,919 --> 00:02:16,560
Speaker 2: here yet. And so when we heard about those first cases,

45
00:02:17,480 --> 00:02:19,520
Speaker 2: it was very like, it's here, it's real.

46
00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:28,840
Speaker 1: From futuro media, it's Latino USA. I'm Maria nor Josa,

47
00:02:29,240 --> 00:02:39,560
Speaker 1: and today the children of Smithfield speak out Throughout the

48
00:02:39,600 --> 00:02:43,240
Speaker 1: early days of the COVID nineteen pandemic, there was a

49
00:02:43,240 --> 00:02:47,359
Speaker 1: lot of concern about the nation's food supply, specifically the

50
00:02:47,400 --> 00:02:53,280
Speaker 1: meat industries supply chain. But last Spring is cases of

51
00:02:53,280 --> 00:02:57,600
Speaker 1: the virus surged in meatpacking plants across the country. It

52
00:02:57,720 --> 00:03:01,960
Speaker 1: became clear that conditions in these plans were often unsafe,

53
00:03:02,600 --> 00:03:06,959
Speaker 1: and that many of these now deemed essential workers weren't

54
00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:10,720
Speaker 1: speaking up because of their status or fear of retaliation.

55
00:03:11,720 --> 00:03:17,880
Speaker 1: Around a fourth of all meatpacking workers are undocumented, and

56
00:03:17,960 --> 00:03:22,160
Speaker 1: so instead now it's the adult children and other family

57
00:03:22,200 --> 00:03:25,880
Speaker 1: members of these meatpacking workers who have started to band

58
00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:33,960
Speaker 1: together to advocate for their relatives. Mida Mendez's parents work

59
00:03:34,040 --> 00:03:36,720
Speaker 1: at a plant owned by Smithfield that's one of the

60
00:03:36,840 --> 00:03:41,680
Speaker 1: largest meatpacking companies in the world. In April, she joined

61
00:03:41,680 --> 00:03:46,720
Speaker 1: with other quote children of Smithfield in the town of Crete, Nebraska,

62
00:03:46,840 --> 00:03:51,400
Speaker 1: to begin demanding safer working conditions for their parents and relatives.

63
00:03:52,280 --> 00:03:57,000
Speaker 1: Reporters Maryann Andre and Esther Hoenig have been reporting and

64
00:03:57,120 --> 00:04:00,600
Speaker 1: following Mada's story. Esther is going to pick up the

65
00:04:00,680 --> 00:04:01,320
Speaker 1: story now.

66
00:04:03,320 --> 00:04:05,640
Speaker 4: Mara is a woman in her late twenties with an

67
00:04:05,640 --> 00:04:09,440
Speaker 4: athletic build and intense brown eyes, and she's warm but

68
00:04:09,560 --> 00:04:11,800
Speaker 4: she wouldn't say she's the social one in her family.

69
00:04:12,480 --> 00:04:18,360
Speaker 2: I'm definitely consider myself as shy, an introvert. This whole

70
00:04:18,400 --> 00:04:22,040
Speaker 2: time we've been in quarantine, I've been okay because I

71
00:04:22,160 --> 00:04:23,839
Speaker 2: enjoy my time alone at home.

72
00:04:24,040 --> 00:04:26,200
Speaker 4: She says it's her dad that's always been the extrovert.

73
00:04:26,440 --> 00:04:28,000
Speaker 3: He doesn't like to be quiet.

74
00:04:29,760 --> 00:04:32,640
Speaker 2: He's always talking, but he just wants to jump into

75
00:04:32,680 --> 00:04:36,840
Speaker 2: every conversation, super affectionate. He's always like grabbing us and

76
00:04:36,920 --> 00:04:39,720
Speaker 2: hugging us and kissing us and like messing up our hair,

77
00:04:39,960 --> 00:04:43,120
Speaker 2: like that's his thing. He wants to mess up our

78
00:04:43,160 --> 00:04:45,400
Speaker 2: hair and kiss us at the same time.

79
00:04:45,720 --> 00:04:48,599
Speaker 4: And her family, Mayra's always be more of the caretaker.

80
00:04:49,279 --> 00:04:51,800
Speaker 4: She has two younger brothers, and she's always looked out

81
00:04:51,800 --> 00:04:52,159
Speaker 4: for them.

82
00:04:52,600 --> 00:04:56,680
Speaker 2: When my second brother was born, I was babysitting him

83
00:04:56,720 --> 00:04:58,760
Speaker 2: all summer and so he was a six month old

84
00:04:58,800 --> 00:05:01,400
Speaker 2: and I was fifteen. I was the one in charge

85
00:05:01,440 --> 00:05:03,520
Speaker 2: of taking care of him. And I think a lot

86
00:05:03,560 --> 00:05:08,239
Speaker 2: of my character was built from being the oldest sibling

87
00:05:09,240 --> 00:05:11,760
Speaker 2: just around the house. I always was told, like, you

88
00:05:11,839 --> 00:05:13,799
Speaker 2: have to be the example for your brothers.

89
00:05:14,760 --> 00:05:16,280
Speaker 3: Kind of paved the way.

90
00:05:16,600 --> 00:05:19,000
Speaker 4: As a family. They've always spent a lot of time together,

91
00:05:19,680 --> 00:05:22,360
Speaker 4: partially because they moved around a lot. When she was little,

92
00:05:22,800 --> 00:05:25,040
Speaker 4: Myra's parents used to work as migrant farm workers.

93
00:05:25,400 --> 00:05:28,960
Speaker 2: I was born in Washington State, and my parents picked

94
00:05:28,960 --> 00:05:32,800
Speaker 2: fruits and other crops like potatoes. We would move between

95
00:05:32,880 --> 00:05:35,040
Speaker 2: Washington State and Idaho back and forth.

96
00:05:35,240 --> 00:05:37,560
Speaker 4: When she was in third grade, her parents, who immigrated

97
00:05:37,560 --> 00:05:40,880
Speaker 4: from Mexico and later became US citizens, heard they could

98
00:05:40,920 --> 00:05:44,120
Speaker 4: get better and more stable work in Nebraska in meat packing.

99
00:05:44,920 --> 00:05:46,960
Speaker 4: I mean they didn't have to move around anymore. That

100
00:05:47,080 --> 00:05:49,480
Speaker 4: as a little kid, she was nervous about leaving her

101
00:05:49,480 --> 00:05:52,400
Speaker 4: school or there were lots of other bilingual students.

102
00:05:52,920 --> 00:05:56,320
Speaker 2: I just remembered in Washington State they taught me in

103
00:05:56,360 --> 00:05:58,520
Speaker 2: Spanish and English, so it was like half day English,

104
00:05:58,560 --> 00:06:02,200
Speaker 2: half day Spanish, and so here. I remember that as

105
00:06:02,240 --> 00:06:05,160
Speaker 2: like my biggest fear. I wasn't sure if I knew English.

106
00:06:05,240 --> 00:06:08,719
Speaker 2: I said, do I really know English? Obviously I knew English,

107
00:06:08,800 --> 00:06:11,279
Speaker 2: but it was just not the atmosphere I was used to.

108
00:06:11,960 --> 00:06:14,640
Speaker 4: The family moved to Crete, Nebraska, a small town of

109
00:06:14,640 --> 00:06:18,680
Speaker 4: about seven thousand people, and throughout her childhood, Myra saw

110
00:06:18,839 --> 00:06:20,280
Speaker 4: lots of different people move in.

111
00:06:20,680 --> 00:06:23,320
Speaker 2: As the town started to grow and I got older,

112
00:06:23,800 --> 00:06:27,599
Speaker 2: we started to see a lot of Central American families

113
00:06:27,680 --> 00:06:32,240
Speaker 2: move in, a lot of like Sudanese, and then now

114
00:06:32,800 --> 00:06:36,159
Speaker 2: there's a lot of Korne families as well, from Thailand

115
00:06:36,240 --> 00:06:37,560
Speaker 2: and Burma.

116
00:06:37,680 --> 00:06:39,960
Speaker 4: And many of these families moved to Crete to work

117
00:06:39,960 --> 00:06:43,880
Speaker 4: in meatpacking too. The meatpacking industry actually used to be

118
00:06:43,960 --> 00:06:46,600
Speaker 4: a largely white, middle class workforce, but then in the

119
00:06:46,640 --> 00:06:50,440
Speaker 4: nineteen eighties and nineties, meatpacking unions were largely gutted, and

120
00:06:50,480 --> 00:06:53,919
Speaker 4: so companies began recruiting refugees and immigrants as a source

121
00:06:53,960 --> 00:06:57,880
Speaker 4: of cheap labor they thought would be unlikely to organize. Today,

122
00:06:57,920 --> 00:06:59,920
Speaker 4: they make up more than half of all meatpacking work

123
00:07:00,279 --> 00:07:03,240
Speaker 4: in the US and well Crete was once historically a

124
00:07:03,240 --> 00:07:06,279
Speaker 4: milltown where they'd ground flour and corn. Today the biggest

125
00:07:06,320 --> 00:07:10,320
Speaker 4: employer is a meatpacking plant owned by Smithfield.

126
00:07:10,120 --> 00:07:14,440
Speaker 2: And that's what drove us to Crete, Nebraska, and we've

127
00:07:14,600 --> 00:07:17,120
Speaker 2: been there ever since. So my parents have been working

128
00:07:17,160 --> 00:07:24,400
Speaker 2: at the plant for over eighteen years.

129
00:07:25,280 --> 00:07:28,280
Speaker 4: Throughout her childhood, Myra's parents worked eight to ten hour

130
00:07:28,360 --> 00:07:33,080
Speaker 4: shifts processing and packaging pork for restaurants in supermarkets worldwide.

131
00:07:33,960 --> 00:07:36,240
Speaker 4: Them and Mimer would get home from school and rarely

132
00:07:36,320 --> 00:07:36,760
Speaker 4: see them.

133
00:07:37,280 --> 00:07:39,680
Speaker 2: I would remember that they would come home tired all

134
00:07:39,720 --> 00:07:42,600
Speaker 2: the time. I think they got home like at midnight

135
00:07:42,720 --> 00:07:45,320
Speaker 2: usually most days.

136
00:07:44,520 --> 00:07:46,760
Speaker 4: And that was the reality for most of the people

137
00:07:46,880 --> 00:07:48,440
Speaker 4: she knew in crete.

138
00:07:48,640 --> 00:07:51,920
Speaker 2: I would say, like all my friends growing up that

139
00:07:52,000 --> 00:07:55,280
Speaker 2: were Hispanic, at least one parent worked at the plant.

140
00:07:58,840 --> 00:08:01,520
Speaker 4: And have they ever had any sort of injuries or

141
00:08:01,520 --> 00:08:04,360
Speaker 4: health consequences from their jobs.

142
00:08:05,800 --> 00:08:08,480
Speaker 2: My dad has been injured a couple of times. He

143
00:08:08,560 --> 00:08:11,480
Speaker 2: stuck his hand in the machine with the machine was

144
00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:17,520
Speaker 2: jammed and the machine cut the tip of I think

145
00:08:17,600 --> 00:08:21,000
Speaker 2: it was two of his fingers, but it wasn't bad

146
00:08:21,160 --> 00:08:22,280
Speaker 2: enough to lose a finger.

147
00:08:28,800 --> 00:08:31,720
Speaker 4: Even in non pandemic times. Working in a meat packing

148
00:08:31,760 --> 00:08:34,320
Speaker 4: plant is one of the most hazardous jobs in the US.

149
00:08:35,000 --> 00:08:38,040
Speaker 4: Workers are cut by sharp knives or develop carple tunnel

150
00:08:38,040 --> 00:08:41,560
Speaker 4: syndrome from the fast and repetitive work, and in March

151
00:08:41,600 --> 00:08:45,240
Speaker 4: of twenty twenty, work in meat packing became even more dangerous.

152
00:08:45,760 --> 00:08:48,800
Speaker 5: Tonight, workers and some meat plants are raising the alarm.

153
00:08:48,960 --> 00:08:52,200
Speaker 5: Some employees described to NBC News having to work shoulder

154
00:08:52,240 --> 00:08:54,200
Speaker 5: to shoulder on the line.

155
00:08:53,760 --> 00:08:56,320
Speaker 4: Over the next couple of weeks. Cases of COVID nineteen

156
00:08:56,440 --> 00:09:00,360
Speaker 4: at meat packing plants began surging across the country, and

157
00:09:00,400 --> 00:09:03,880
Speaker 4: then thousands and in many states across the Midwest, small

158
00:09:03,880 --> 00:09:06,239
Speaker 4: meatpacking towns became hotspots.

159
00:09:06,720 --> 00:09:10,520
Speaker 6: Nearly six hundred workers at various meatpacking plants across Nebraska

160
00:09:10,679 --> 00:09:11,960
Speaker 6: tested positive.

161
00:09:11,559 --> 00:09:14,240
Speaker 4: For the coronavirus in April, with at least one death.

162
00:09:14,400 --> 00:09:17,199
Speaker 5: The worker says, this is a picture of the cafeteria

163
00:09:17,240 --> 00:09:20,840
Speaker 5: outfitted with cardboard dividers and yellow tape for social distancing.

164
00:09:21,160 --> 00:09:24,479
Speaker 5: But the employee tells us that is nearly impossible.

165
00:09:30,120 --> 00:09:32,520
Speaker 4: And it's around this time that Myra's mom took her

166
00:09:32,520 --> 00:09:34,640
Speaker 4: medical leave, but her dad kept working.

167
00:09:34,960 --> 00:09:37,720
Speaker 2: And then it was that next week when things started

168
00:09:37,760 --> 00:09:40,640
Speaker 2: popping up about the South Dakota plant.

169
00:09:40,679 --> 00:09:43,560
Speaker 4: And then in mid April, a massive outbreak in South

170
00:09:43,600 --> 00:09:46,240
Speaker 4: Dakota suddenly became a national story.

171
00:09:46,720 --> 00:09:50,040
Speaker 7: Meat processing plants are now major hotspots for the virus.

172
00:09:50,280 --> 00:09:53,720
Speaker 7: The CDC is investigating the Smithfield Foods pork facility and

173
00:09:53,760 --> 00:09:57,439
Speaker 7: Sioux Falls, South Dakota, as we're learning about more Smithfield

174
00:09:57,440 --> 00:10:01,160
Speaker 7: facilities with confirmed cases in other states, threatening a major

175
00:10:01,200 --> 00:10:02,960
Speaker 7: disruption to supply chains.

176
00:10:03,559 --> 00:10:05,959
Speaker 4: The outbreak was in a different state, but it was

177
00:10:06,000 --> 00:10:09,839
Speaker 4: at a Smithfield plant, the same company where Myra's parents worked.

178
00:10:09,840 --> 00:10:13,160
Speaker 4: In Nebraska, and it was the biggest hotspot of COVID

179
00:10:13,200 --> 00:10:16,040
Speaker 4: nineteen in the US at the time, with over six

180
00:10:16,160 --> 00:10:27,960
Speaker 4: hundred people infected. Mayra remembers reading about it and a

181
00:10:28,000 --> 00:10:29,080
Speaker 4: story from the BBC.

182
00:10:29,920 --> 00:10:33,560
Speaker 2: And I read this article, I felt like I was

183
00:10:33,640 --> 00:10:36,160
Speaker 2: reading a story that I could have written myself.

184
00:10:36,840 --> 00:10:39,840
Speaker 4: The BBC reported that instead of telling sick employees to

185
00:10:39,880 --> 00:10:43,200
Speaker 4: stay home, the company offered a five hundred dollars responsibility

186
00:10:43,200 --> 00:10:45,840
Speaker 4: bonus to South Dakota workers if they came in for

187
00:10:45,880 --> 00:10:49,240
Speaker 4: all their shifts, and instead of face masks, workers were

188
00:10:49,240 --> 00:10:53,960
Speaker 4: given beard nuts, just like Myra's dad. Smithfield maintains that

189
00:10:54,000 --> 00:10:57,200
Speaker 4: they worked as swiftly as possible to secure PPE in

190
00:10:57,240 --> 00:11:00,600
Speaker 4: the midst of a nationwide shortage, that they encouraged sick

191
00:11:00,640 --> 00:11:04,199
Speaker 4: workers to stay home, and also that employees who missed

192
00:11:04,200 --> 00:11:07,080
Speaker 4: work due to COVID nineteen would still get the bonus.

193
00:11:08,160 --> 00:11:12,199
Speaker 4: Maira posted the BBC article on Facebook, writing something needs

194
00:11:12,240 --> 00:11:15,280
Speaker 4: to be done soon about all these meatpacking facilities.

195
00:11:15,679 --> 00:11:18,520
Speaker 2: And then my mom shortly after sent me a text

196
00:11:18,600 --> 00:11:22,160
Speaker 2: message and asked me to remove that post. In her eyes,

197
00:11:22,640 --> 00:11:26,440
Speaker 2: somebody from the company could see my posts and get

198
00:11:26,480 --> 00:11:29,200
Speaker 2: mad about it and call my dad in and question

199
00:11:29,320 --> 00:11:38,760
Speaker 2: him and why his daughter is retaliating. I guess in.

200
00:11:38,720 --> 00:11:41,960
Speaker 4: That moment she realized just how fearful her parents and

201
00:11:42,040 --> 00:11:44,200
Speaker 4: other workers were about speaking up.

202
00:11:44,559 --> 00:11:48,880
Speaker 2: I can't remember who exactly added us, but someone started

203
00:11:48,880 --> 00:11:51,200
Speaker 2: this group chat. It was a Facebook group chat.

204
00:11:51,440 --> 00:11:53,800
Speaker 4: The article started a lot of anger, not just in Myra,

205
00:11:54,000 --> 00:11:56,640
Speaker 4: but in her community. All of a sudden, she started

206
00:11:56,679 --> 00:12:00,600
Speaker 4: hearing from other kids of meatpacking workers, including high school

207
00:12:00,600 --> 00:12:03,600
Speaker 4: friends she hadn't heard from the years. They started sharing

208
00:12:03,679 --> 00:12:06,160
Speaker 4: what they were hearing from their parents about conditions that

209
00:12:06,240 --> 00:12:08,920
Speaker 4: the plant and create, and messaging and frustration.

210
00:12:09,360 --> 00:12:12,080
Speaker 2: We felt like it was our obligation to speak out

211
00:12:12,080 --> 00:12:16,040
Speaker 2: for our parents, who have done nothing but work in

212
00:12:16,080 --> 00:12:21,800
Speaker 2: this intensive, physically labourist job to provide for us, And

213
00:12:21,880 --> 00:12:25,319
Speaker 2: so it's it's not even an obligation.

214
00:12:25,480 --> 00:12:27,400
Speaker 3: It just feels like that's my job.

215
00:12:28,520 --> 00:12:32,480
Speaker 4: And eventually they decided to move beyond Facebook. They organized

216
00:12:32,480 --> 00:12:33,760
Speaker 4: a group known.

217
00:12:33,600 --> 00:12:35,640
Speaker 3: As the Children of Smithfield.

218
00:12:42,240 --> 00:12:45,040
Speaker 4: As cases of COVID nineteen at the plant started to rise,

219
00:12:45,600 --> 00:12:48,840
Speaker 4: the Children of Smithfield began hearing the employees were continuing

220
00:12:48,880 --> 00:12:51,600
Speaker 4: to come in even when they felt sick. Workers said

221
00:12:51,600 --> 00:12:54,480
Speaker 4: they were cardboard dividers. At the lunch tables and temperature

222
00:12:54,559 --> 00:12:57,440
Speaker 4: checks at the plant entrance, but they felt pressure from

223
00:12:57,480 --> 00:13:00,439
Speaker 4: their supervisors or they weren't told that smith Field was

224
00:13:00,480 --> 00:13:02,720
Speaker 4: offering two weeks of paid sick leave if they had

225
00:13:02,760 --> 00:13:06,800
Speaker 4: COVID nineteen. And concern was mounting, not just in Crete,

226
00:13:07,000 --> 00:13:09,920
Speaker 4: but across the state of Nebraska. In fact, back in

227
00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:13,120
Speaker 4: late March, local health officials had written to the governor,

228
00:13:13,200 --> 00:13:17,440
Speaker 4: Republican Pete Ricketts, urging him to shudder another Nebraska packing

229
00:13:17,480 --> 00:13:20,680
Speaker 4: plant after a surge of cases there, but the governor

230
00:13:20,920 --> 00:13:24,719
Speaker 4: refused to intervene two more questions in April, he held

231
00:13:24,720 --> 00:13:26,920
Speaker 4: a press conference. I was asked if he would ever

232
00:13:26,960 --> 00:13:28,559
Speaker 4: consider closing down the plants.

233
00:13:28,720 --> 00:13:30,480
Speaker 6: We are working with him to keep them open, and

234
00:13:30,520 --> 00:13:33,360
Speaker 6: so I don't foresee a scenario where I would tell.

235
00:13:33,320 --> 00:13:33,920
Speaker 2: Them to close.

236
00:13:34,720 --> 00:13:36,640
Speaker 6: We're working very hard to make sure they can stay

237
00:13:36,640 --> 00:13:39,440
Speaker 6: open because it's vital for our food supply. Can you

238
00:13:39,520 --> 00:13:41,760
Speaker 6: imagine what would happen if people could not go to

239
00:13:41,800 --> 00:13:42,680
Speaker 6: the store and get food?

240
00:13:43,080 --> 00:13:46,439
Speaker 4: His reasoning, closing the plants would lead to chaos.

241
00:13:46,800 --> 00:13:48,920
Speaker 6: I think, oh, mad people where they couldn't get paper products.

242
00:13:49,040 --> 00:13:51,200
Speaker 6: Think about it if they can't get food, right, folks,

243
00:13:51,240 --> 00:13:53,480
Speaker 6: This is why it's vitally important that we keep our

244
00:13:53,520 --> 00:13:56,240
Speaker 6: food processors open because we would have civil unrest if

245
00:13:56,280 --> 00:13:57,040
Speaker 6: that was not the case.

246
00:13:58,520 --> 00:14:01,520
Speaker 4: Later reporting by pro Public would reveal the CEO of

247
00:14:01,559 --> 00:14:04,360
Speaker 4: Smithfield had sent a letter to Governor Ricketts a month

248
00:14:04,400 --> 00:14:08,000
Speaker 4: before the press conference, pressuring him not to shut down

249
00:14:08,000 --> 00:14:11,720
Speaker 4: the plants. It re read social distancing is a nicety

250
00:14:11,880 --> 00:14:15,240
Speaker 4: that makes sense only for people with laptops, and it

251
00:14:15,320 --> 00:14:17,400
Speaker 4: warned that if meat packing plants were shut down to

252
00:14:17,400 --> 00:14:22,240
Speaker 4: contain the virus quote, food shortages would lead to social unrest.

253
00:14:22,560 --> 00:14:25,760
Speaker 2: We started to realize that the meat packing plants were

254
00:14:25,760 --> 00:14:28,240
Speaker 2: going to continue to do whatever they needed to do

255
00:14:28,320 --> 00:14:29,200
Speaker 2: to keep running.

256
00:14:29,520 --> 00:14:31,800
Speaker 4: Two days later, if the children of Smithfield decided to

257
00:14:31,840 --> 00:14:37,680
Speaker 4: take more direct action, they decided to hold a protest,

258
00:14:38,000 --> 00:14:40,640
Speaker 4: a socially distant drive by car protest.

259
00:14:41,640 --> 00:14:43,520
Speaker 2: We drove around the plant a couple of times, and

260
00:14:43,560 --> 00:14:46,200
Speaker 2: then we came back to the parking lot. A couple

261
00:14:46,280 --> 00:14:48,320
Speaker 2: of us got out of our cars and held out

262
00:14:48,400 --> 00:14:49,640
Speaker 2: our signs on the sidewalk.

263
00:14:49,880 --> 00:14:51,440
Speaker 8: He read.

264
00:14:54,320 --> 00:14:57,640
Speaker 4: Workers coming off their shift, cheer and support and all.

265
00:14:57,760 --> 00:15:00,440
Speaker 4: Myra says. There were about fifty cars that day, mostly

266
00:15:00,560 --> 00:15:05,000
Speaker 4: children and family members. Workers themselves weren't willing to join in,

267
00:15:05,400 --> 00:15:09,240
Speaker 4: but the protest did spread statewide, involve people at meat

268
00:15:09,240 --> 00:15:12,000
Speaker 4: packing plants in Grand Island, Lexington and Create.

269
00:15:12,400 --> 00:15:15,160
Speaker 8: Protesters say this is a scene crete will continue to

270
00:15:15,200 --> 00:15:19,280
Speaker 8: see every single Saturday if COVID consciousness does not get better.

271
00:15:19,320 --> 00:15:23,240
Speaker 8: At Smithfield Foods, just south of the downtown area, so far,

272
00:15:23,480 --> 00:15:26,760
Speaker 8: there are six confirmed cases from those working within the plant.

273
00:15:27,080 --> 00:15:30,280
Speaker 8: All the people want is just a little transparency and

274
00:15:30,640 --> 00:15:32,840
Speaker 8: enough ppe to feel safe.

275
00:15:33,160 --> 00:15:36,360
Speaker 2: We wanted to show solidarity, and the purpose of that

276
00:15:36,520 --> 00:15:39,640
Speaker 2: carvagel was to bring some attention to it, but also

277
00:15:39,800 --> 00:15:42,160
Speaker 2: let the workers know that they weren't alone.

278
00:15:43,040 --> 00:15:45,360
Speaker 4: Just a few days after the protest, the number of

279
00:15:45,400 --> 00:15:48,400
Speaker 4: COVID positive cases at the plant jumped sharply to just

280
00:15:48,480 --> 00:15:51,560
Speaker 4: under fifty, and that seemed to be a wake up

281
00:15:51,600 --> 00:16:02,080
Speaker 4: call for Smithfield. In late April, employees learned that the

282
00:16:02,120 --> 00:16:04,840
Speaker 4: plant would close for up to two weeks. For the

283
00:16:04,880 --> 00:16:07,200
Speaker 4: children of Smithfield. It felt like a win.

284
00:16:07,800 --> 00:16:11,600
Speaker 2: I want to believe that Smithfield at some point said, Okay, yeah,

285
00:16:11,800 --> 00:16:15,200
Speaker 2: we need to close because our employees need some time

286
00:16:15,240 --> 00:16:17,080
Speaker 2: to rest, we need to clean, we need to really

287
00:16:17,120 --> 00:16:18,920
Speaker 2: give them the proper protection.

288
00:16:19,640 --> 00:16:22,680
Speaker 4: But according to local reporting, later that same day, corporate

289
00:16:22,680 --> 00:16:25,680
Speaker 4: officials pulled to one to eighty. They reversed their decision

290
00:16:25,720 --> 00:16:29,440
Speaker 4: to close. Smithfield would not confirm this in their statements

291
00:16:29,480 --> 00:16:30,360
Speaker 4: to reporters.

292
00:16:30,760 --> 00:16:35,280
Speaker 2: I really believe that it was people like Governor Ricketts

293
00:16:35,280 --> 00:16:38,720
Speaker 2: and the current president that got their hands involved and

294
00:16:39,320 --> 00:16:40,440
Speaker 2: told them no.

295
00:16:41,400 --> 00:16:44,440
Speaker 4: Governor Ricketts says Smithfield officials called him and told him

296
00:16:44,480 --> 00:16:47,920
Speaker 4: the production line would not stop running. The next day,

297
00:16:48,080 --> 00:16:51,640
Speaker 4: President Trump issued an executive order that he said would

298
00:16:51,640 --> 00:16:56,040
Speaker 4: mandate all meatpacking plants remain open. And that was a

299
00:16:56,080 --> 00:16:57,200
Speaker 4: breaking point.

300
00:17:01,360 --> 00:17:03,960
Speaker 2: When workers were told one thing and came back the

301
00:17:04,040 --> 00:17:06,800
Speaker 2: next day. That's when it opened up their eyes.

302
00:17:12,520 --> 00:17:14,880
Speaker 1: Coming up on Lett you know us say the children

303
00:17:14,920 --> 00:17:18,400
Speaker 1: of Smithfield up their protests, stay with us, not stay

304
00:17:18,480 --> 00:17:18,800
Speaker 1: right us.

305
00:18:14,480 --> 00:18:15,000
Speaker 4: We're back.

306
00:18:15,640 --> 00:18:18,920
Speaker 1: When we left off, the Smithfield meatpacking plant in Crete,

307
00:18:19,000 --> 00:18:24,040
Speaker 1: Nebraska had almost fifty cases of COVID nineteen, but it

308
00:18:24,119 --> 00:18:28,679
Speaker 1: didn't close and workers had had enough. Mary and Andre

309
00:18:28,800 --> 00:18:31,800
Speaker 1: and Esther Hoenig have been reporting on the protest movement

310
00:18:31,880 --> 00:18:35,760
Speaker 1: at the meatpacking plants, and Esther continues the story now.

311
00:18:36,560 --> 00:18:39,199
Speaker 4: Up until now, workers have been reluctant to join the

312
00:18:39,240 --> 00:18:42,280
Speaker 4: protest or speak out because if your a retaliation or

313
00:18:42,320 --> 00:18:46,560
Speaker 4: status but that day, April twenty eighth, in an unprecedented move,

314
00:18:47,200 --> 00:18:49,720
Speaker 4: at least fifty employees walked off the job.

315
00:18:50,080 --> 00:18:53,359
Speaker 5: Workers are seen walking out of Smithfield Foods in Crete

316
00:18:53,440 --> 00:18:56,639
Speaker 5: on Tuesday. This comes after the company announced it will

317
00:18:56,680 --> 00:18:59,959
Speaker 5: remain open despite workplace concerns.

318
00:19:00,000 --> 00:19:01,320
Speaker 4: And that momentum continued.

319
00:19:01,880 --> 00:19:06,040
Speaker 2: The second car vigil that we had, we just had

320
00:19:06,920 --> 00:19:10,440
Speaker 2: a huge amount of people, Like the parking lot when

321
00:19:10,480 --> 00:19:12,359
Speaker 2: I got there at two o'clock was full.

322
00:19:17,200 --> 00:19:20,320
Speaker 4: There were over one hundred and fifty cars and most

323
00:19:20,359 --> 00:19:23,720
Speaker 4: were filled with workers. It was as if the protest

324
00:19:23,800 --> 00:19:25,760
Speaker 4: had transformed into a parade.

325
00:19:26,320 --> 00:19:29,440
Speaker 2: It was a huge line. That energy was it was awesome.

326
00:19:30,400 --> 00:19:32,480
Speaker 4: Myra led the line of cars out of the parking

327
00:19:32,480 --> 00:19:35,760
Speaker 4: lot past fields of corn and soybeans, and she recorded

328
00:19:35,760 --> 00:19:36,960
Speaker 4: this Facebook live video.

329
00:19:37,960 --> 00:19:40,040
Speaker 9: Here we go driving around.

330
00:19:41,320 --> 00:19:44,360
Speaker 3: Look at that line. I just remembered.

331
00:19:44,359 --> 00:19:46,720
Speaker 2: I got really excited when I put on the song

332
00:19:46,760 --> 00:19:47,440
Speaker 2: from Black.

333
00:19:47,240 --> 00:19:51,800
Speaker 3: Eyed Peace, Where is the Love? I felt happy, I felt.

334
00:19:53,040 --> 00:19:57,720
Speaker 2: Some hope that maybe we could make something happen together.

335
00:20:00,160 --> 00:20:04,879
Speaker 4: And it's The workers pulled into the parking lot of Smithfield,

336
00:20:05,080 --> 00:20:09,360
Speaker 4: honking their horns and cheering. People waved Mexican and American flags.

337
00:20:09,560 --> 00:20:11,879
Speaker 4: They held up homemade signs that read, my parents are

338
00:20:11,920 --> 00:20:15,440
Speaker 4: more important than meat for Creed. This was a historic moment.

339
00:20:17,040 --> 00:20:19,879
Speaker 2: Oh, I've never heard of a protest happened at Smithfield,

340
00:20:20,359 --> 00:20:22,760
Speaker 2: and we've been there for over eighteen years.

341
00:20:23,160 --> 00:20:24,600
Speaker 3: I don't think it's ever happened.

342
00:20:30,320 --> 00:20:33,560
Speaker 4: But not everyone who wanted to could attend these protests.

343
00:20:33,880 --> 00:20:36,520
Speaker 9: My uncle actually called me and he said, Grandpa's not

344
00:20:36,600 --> 00:20:39,000
Speaker 9: feeling really good. He's having a hard time breathing.

345
00:20:41,119 --> 00:20:43,919
Speaker 4: Vmi is one of the other children of Smithfield. She

346
00:20:44,119 --> 00:20:46,880
Speaker 4: just returned home from her final semester of college when

347
00:20:46,880 --> 00:20:49,720
Speaker 4: she received a word call from her uncle. Her grandfather

348
00:20:49,960 --> 00:20:52,040
Speaker 4: got on the phone.

349
00:20:51,480 --> 00:20:53,240
Speaker 9: So I asked him. I was just like, what's wrong,

350
00:20:53,280 --> 00:20:55,160
Speaker 9: and he's like, I can't breathe. I don't feel good.

351
00:20:55,200 --> 00:20:57,119
Speaker 9: I think I might have COVID. I want to go

352
00:20:57,119 --> 00:20:57,920
Speaker 9: to the hospital.

353
00:20:58,320 --> 00:21:01,119
Speaker 4: V's grandfather came to the US from Vietnam in nineteen

354
00:21:01,160 --> 00:21:05,560
Speaker 4: ninety four and worked for decades to meet packing before retiring. Later,

355
00:21:05,640 --> 00:21:08,480
Speaker 4: the family received a call from the hospital confirming their

356
00:21:08,520 --> 00:21:11,960
Speaker 4: worst fear. He had tested positive for COVID nineteen.

357
00:21:15,640 --> 00:21:19,200
Speaker 9: How do you even receive that news? Because that news

358
00:21:19,880 --> 00:21:22,320
Speaker 9: to him was basically a death sentence.

359
00:21:25,600 --> 00:21:28,440
Speaker 4: V was confused about how he could have gotten the virus.

360
00:21:29,320 --> 00:21:30,400
Speaker 3: How is this possible?

361
00:21:30,400 --> 00:21:33,040
Speaker 9: Because my grandfather and my grandmother are both retired, so

362
00:21:33,080 --> 00:21:35,040
Speaker 9: they spend all their time at home. They didn't leave

363
00:21:35,040 --> 00:21:35,399
Speaker 9: the house.

364
00:21:36,600 --> 00:21:39,719
Speaker 4: After her grandfather was diagnosed, the whole family got tested

365
00:21:39,720 --> 00:21:43,399
Speaker 4: for COVID nineteen, and it turned out that VI's uncle,

366
00:21:43,640 --> 00:21:47,320
Speaker 4: who lived with her grandfather, were asymptomatic for the virus.

367
00:21:47,880 --> 00:21:50,639
Speaker 4: They're also both employees of Smithfield.

368
00:21:51,480 --> 00:21:54,840
Speaker 9: The only explanation would be that they got it from work.

369
00:21:54,920 --> 00:21:56,760
Speaker 9: My aunt and my uncle got it at Smithfield.

370
00:21:58,280 --> 00:22:01,040
Speaker 4: Her grandfather stated the hospital for se several days and

371
00:22:01,119 --> 00:22:04,119
Speaker 4: this is health rapidly declined. The nurses held up a

372
00:22:04,160 --> 00:22:07,320
Speaker 4: phone so his family could at least see him over FaceTime,

373
00:22:09,520 --> 00:22:13,800
Speaker 4: and on May fifth, The's grandfather passed away from complications

374
00:22:13,880 --> 00:22:30,080
Speaker 4: due to COVID nineteen. The next day, the posted a

375
00:22:30,119 --> 00:22:34,440
Speaker 4: long message on Instagram and she tagged Smithfield, so.

376
00:22:34,640 --> 00:22:37,679
Speaker 9: It reads, HI, both my aunt and uncle worked for

377
00:22:37,720 --> 00:22:41,840
Speaker 9: you in create, Nebraska. They both tested positive for COVID

378
00:22:41,840 --> 00:22:44,479
Speaker 9: and passed it on to my grandmother and grandfather, who

379
00:22:44,640 --> 00:22:48,080
Speaker 9: never left the house. My grandfather lost his battle last

380
00:22:48,160 --> 00:22:51,199
Speaker 9: night after fighting for his life for a week. I

381
00:22:51,240 --> 00:22:53,680
Speaker 9: want you to know he died in the hospital alone,

382
00:22:53,880 --> 00:22:57,320
Speaker 9: isolated and scared. I want you to know no one

383
00:22:57,400 --> 00:22:59,720
Speaker 9: in my family was able to say goodbye to him.

384
00:23:00,200 --> 00:23:02,119
Speaker 9: I want to know what excuse you have for not

385
00:23:02,160 --> 00:23:06,719
Speaker 9: shutting down a factory that has fifty confirmed cases. And

386
00:23:06,760 --> 00:23:08,960
Speaker 9: most importantly, I want you to see him as a

387
00:23:09,000 --> 00:23:12,000
Speaker 9: person that has been affected by this and not just

388
00:23:12,080 --> 00:23:14,400
Speaker 9: another statistic of your carelessness.

389
00:23:14,840 --> 00:23:17,560
Speaker 4: This message, which we later posted to Facebook, was shared

390
00:23:17,600 --> 00:23:20,639
Speaker 4: nearly three thousand times and was picked up by local

391
00:23:20,680 --> 00:23:21,639
Speaker 4: and national news.

392
00:23:21,880 --> 00:23:25,919
Speaker 7: Tam My, a Lincoln man, celebrated his eightieth birthday on

393
00:23:26,040 --> 00:23:26,600
Speaker 7: a fifth.

394
00:23:26,680 --> 00:23:30,199
Speaker 4: He died of coronavirus in a hospital room alone, but

395
00:23:30,320 --> 00:23:33,280
Speaker 4: his granddaughter is hoping his story will not end there.

396
00:23:33,680 --> 00:23:38,920
Speaker 9: I just lost my grandfather, who was someone who took

397
00:23:38,960 --> 00:23:39,720
Speaker 9: care of me for.

398
00:23:41,760 --> 00:23:42,919
Speaker 4: A lot of my life.

399
00:23:44,040 --> 00:23:46,280
Speaker 9: Who was the person who took me to get my

400
00:23:46,359 --> 00:23:49,280
Speaker 9: driver's license, who was the person who would pick me

401
00:23:49,359 --> 00:23:53,160
Speaker 9: up after school. And I lost that, and I wanted

402
00:23:53,200 --> 00:23:55,280
Speaker 9: them to see who he was.

403
00:24:04,359 --> 00:24:07,720
Speaker 4: Despite all the protests, VI's viral message and the rising

404
00:24:07,800 --> 00:24:11,960
Speaker 4: number of cases, the Smithfield plant remained open. In fact,

405
00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:14,760
Speaker 4: the New York Times reported that in April, Smithfield and

406
00:24:14,800 --> 00:24:18,960
Speaker 4: other meatpacking companies actually exported a record amount of pork.

407
00:24:19,560 --> 00:24:23,040
Speaker 4: Smithfield sent China over nine thousand tons of pork, one

408
00:24:23,080 --> 00:24:27,840
Speaker 4: of its highest monthly totals in years hand On May six,

409
00:24:28,000 --> 00:24:31,679
Speaker 4: Governor Ricketts held another press conference where he made an announcement,

410
00:24:32,400 --> 00:24:36,359
Speaker 4: an announcement that went against the recommendations of most health officials.

411
00:24:36,600 --> 00:24:38,760
Speaker 2: The employer's not entitled to get around.

412
00:24:38,520 --> 00:24:41,959
Speaker 4: Hippolyte, he said. Meatbacking plants no longer have to report

413
00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:45,160
Speaker 4: how many COVID nineteen cases they have, So.

414
00:24:45,400 --> 00:24:48,880
Speaker 6: Unless a person worse employers psue retail's employer that they've

415
00:24:48,880 --> 00:24:51,399
Speaker 6: got coronavirus and gives them permission to release that, Timploor

416
00:24:51,440 --> 00:24:52,679
Speaker 6: can't do anything of that.

417
00:24:52,680 --> 00:24:55,960
Speaker 4: That means going forward, all data will be anonymized, which

418
00:24:56,000 --> 00:24:58,679
Speaker 4: makes it hard to know exactly where cases of COVID

419
00:24:58,760 --> 00:25:03,719
Speaker 4: nineteen are breaking out and hold individual meatpacking companies accountable

420
00:25:03,840 --> 00:25:05,280
Speaker 4: for their unsafe practices.

421
00:25:06,240 --> 00:25:09,879
Speaker 2: Without knowing how many people are affected in your workplace,

422
00:25:09,920 --> 00:25:12,359
Speaker 2: you can't make a decision of do I go to

423
00:25:12,440 --> 00:25:14,360
Speaker 2: work do I put my family in danger.

424
00:25:15,119 --> 00:25:17,159
Speaker 4: By early May, the crete plant had at least one

425
00:25:17,240 --> 00:25:20,560
Speaker 4: hundred and thirty nine cases and protests led by the

426
00:25:20,600 --> 00:25:23,439
Speaker 4: children of meat packing workers started to take place at

427
00:25:23,600 --> 00:25:32,879
Speaker 4: least twelve other plants across the country, madave Mana, and

428
00:25:32,920 --> 00:25:35,600
Speaker 4: at the end of the month, their protests merged with

429
00:25:35,680 --> 00:25:40,440
Speaker 4: the national outcry over the killing of George Floyd. In Minneapolis,

430
00:25:41,080 --> 00:25:46,360
Speaker 4: they had Nay on the steps of the Nebraska State Capitol.

431
00:25:46,920 --> 00:25:50,480
Speaker 4: Demonstrators held signs for paid sick leave next to signs

432
00:25:50,480 --> 00:25:54,320
Speaker 4: for Black Lives Matter. Myra, leaning into her new role

433
00:25:54,359 --> 00:25:57,520
Speaker 4: as an activist, spoke to the crowd, but we.

434
00:25:57,520 --> 00:26:01,000
Speaker 9: Won't allow employers and government of visuals to classified plant

435
00:26:01,000 --> 00:26:06,359
Speaker 9: workers as essential workers without treating them as a central life.

436
00:26:06,760 --> 00:26:09,639
Speaker 4: For Maira, speaking in front of large crowds still doesn't

437
00:26:09,640 --> 00:26:12,760
Speaker 4: come easy, but this experience has changed her.

438
00:26:13,200 --> 00:26:16,359
Speaker 2: I've always been an advocate for speaking up for what

439
00:26:16,440 --> 00:26:19,280
Speaker 2: you believe, but I wasn't out there. I wasn't on

440
00:26:19,359 --> 00:26:24,360
Speaker 2: the streets holding a poster or being as outspoken as

441
00:26:24,400 --> 00:26:27,720
Speaker 2: I was about this situation. Now, I don't think that

442
00:26:27,800 --> 00:26:30,520
Speaker 2: something had hit me as personally as this did.

443
00:26:31,320 --> 00:26:33,440
Speaker 4: It's also changed how her parents see her.

444
00:26:33,960 --> 00:26:36,199
Speaker 2: My dad, he always says, you're going to be my

445
00:26:36,640 --> 00:26:40,000
Speaker 2: president someday, and I'm like, never going to be into politics.

446
00:26:40,359 --> 00:26:42,919
Speaker 4: They always felt she was destined to do great things.

447
00:26:43,560 --> 00:26:46,080
Speaker 4: But now her dad calls her something else.

448
00:26:46,600 --> 00:26:52,199
Speaker 2: I answered my phone and he said Bogada, and my

449
00:26:52,560 --> 00:26:56,680
Speaker 2: husband kind of chuckled a little bit. It's like, you're

450
00:26:56,680 --> 00:26:59,800
Speaker 2: my lawyer now based on the advocacy work that I've

451
00:26:59,800 --> 00:27:02,480
Speaker 2: been doing, and I think that they're proud of me.

452
00:27:05,000 --> 00:27:08,320
Speaker 4: Well, at first they didn't support her speaking out. Now

453
00:27:08,320 --> 00:27:11,679
Speaker 4: they realize she's found her own way to be a leader.

454
00:27:21,800 --> 00:27:25,200
Speaker 1: Since reporting this story, too, workers at the Creep plant

455
00:27:25,240 --> 00:27:30,840
Speaker 1: in Nebraska have died. Conditions at Smithfield have improved somewhat.

456
00:27:31,240 --> 00:27:34,400
Speaker 1: They now have better protective equipment, and they're offering hazard

457
00:27:34,480 --> 00:27:37,840
Speaker 1: pay and paid sick leave if workers contract the virus

458
00:27:38,480 --> 00:27:42,000
Speaker 1: or are considered high risk, but according to the union there,

459
00:27:42,440 --> 00:27:47,000
Speaker 1: it's only a two week leave and it's only offered once,

460
00:27:48,200 --> 00:27:52,480
Speaker 1: and like many other meatpacking plants, they're still unable to

461
00:27:52,680 --> 00:27:59,760
Speaker 1: ensure social distancing on the production line. Mida and the

462
00:28:00,040 --> 00:28:04,000
Speaker 1: Children of Smithfield have now shifted their focus from protests

463
00:28:04,280 --> 00:28:07,560
Speaker 1: to advocacy by reaching out to state lawmakers to try

464
00:28:07,600 --> 00:28:13,200
Speaker 1: to enact new legislation aimed at protecting essential workers. Nationwide,

465
00:28:13,359 --> 00:28:17,000
Speaker 1: more than thirty nine thousand meat packing workers have contracted

466
00:28:17,040 --> 00:28:20,560
Speaker 1: COVID nineteen and at the time of this recording in

467
00:28:20,600 --> 00:28:24,000
Speaker 1: the beginning of August, at least one hundred and eighty.

468
00:28:23,760 --> 00:28:24,760
Speaker 4: Four have died.

469
00:28:50,840 --> 00:28:54,600
Speaker 1: This episode was reported by Marian Andre and Esther Hoenig,

470
00:28:54,800 --> 00:28:58,560
Speaker 1: produced by Marie Mendossan, and edited by Sophia Palisa Khan

471
00:29:00,120 --> 00:29:03,840
Speaker 1: was done in collaboration with the Food and Environment Reporting Network.

472
00:29:04,440 --> 00:29:09,080
Speaker 1: The Latino USA team includes Niel Macias, Luis Reyes, Genesemoca,

473
00:29:09,320 --> 00:29:14,160
Speaker 1: Julieta Martinelli, Gini Montalgo, Alisas Carse and Alejandra Salasar, with

474
00:29:14,240 --> 00:29:18,440
Speaker 1: help from Raoul Perez. Our engineers are Stephanie Lobo, Julia Caruso,

475
00:29:18,520 --> 00:29:22,000
Speaker 1: and Lia Shaw. Our director of programming and Operations is

476
00:29:22,080 --> 00:29:26,200
Speaker 1: Natalia Fidehartz. Our digital editor is Amanel Cantra. Our New

477
00:29:26,280 --> 00:29:30,000
Speaker 1: York Women's Foundation Ignite fellow is Julia Rocha. Our interns

478
00:29:30,040 --> 00:29:33,440
Speaker 1: are Sophia Sanchez and Marie Mendosa. Our theme music was

479
00:29:33,480 --> 00:29:36,320
Speaker 1: composed by see Ronos. If you like the music you

480
00:29:36,360 --> 00:29:39,200
Speaker 1: heard on this episode, stop by Latino Usa dot org

481
00:29:39,360 --> 00:29:42,400
Speaker 1: and check out our weekly Spotify playlist. I'm your host

482
00:29:42,440 --> 00:29:45,560
Speaker 1: and executive producer Mariao Josa join us again on our

483
00:29:45,600 --> 00:29:48,120
Speaker 1: next episode and in the meantime, look for us on

484
00:29:48,160 --> 00:29:51,800
Speaker 1: all of your social media. Hi losveo, astella proxima c Ciao.

485
00:29:54,960 --> 00:29:59,320
Speaker 3: Latino USA is made possible in part by the Anie

486
00:29:59,560 --> 00:30:00,520
Speaker 3: Casey Foundation.

487
00:30:00,760 --> 00:30:04,880
Speaker 4: Creates a brighter future for the nation's children by strengthening families,

488
00:30:05,080 --> 00:30:10,000
Speaker 4: building greater economic opportunity, and transforming communities. W. K.

489
00:30:10,280 --> 00:30:15,360
Speaker 3: Kellogg Foundation, a partner with communities where children come first.

490
00:30:15,840 --> 00:30:17,800
Speaker 4: And funding for Latino

491
00:30:17,920 --> 00:30:21,360
Speaker 3: USA's coverage of a culture of health is made possible

492
00:30:21,400 --> 00:30:24,280
Speaker 3: in part by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.