Shame on Foster Farms, Trump administration for COVID collusion in Merced County

An economy based on capitalism, like the United States’, allows private business to do what it needs to make a profit. Money is the reason companies exist, and those that perform best are rightfully rewarded the most.

But there are limits. For example, working conditions must not lead to employees’ sickness or death.

That’s where government comes in. We rely on public agencies to make sure employers aren’t exploiting workers in many ways, including unsafe conditions. The almighty dollar is not worth someone’s health, or life.

When government actually coordinates with a business to help it get around safety rules, that’s when you know something is really rotten.

That is exactly what happened in 2020 when a Trump administration appointee interfered with Merced County Public Health as it tried to corral a COVID-19 outbreak at Foster Farms’ Livingston poultry plant, where many employees work shoulder to shoulder. While the money kept flowing, unwarranted and unconscionable interference left workers ill or dead.

The infected then circulated among our communities, sickening who knows how many more, as Central Valley became among the most ravaged areas in California. One may never know how many COVID cases can be morally laid at the company’s feet; it is known that Foster Farms operates plants in Merced, Stanislaus and Fresno counties, where to date 5,221 people have died of COVID.

The picture of government collusion became clearer with Thursday’s release of a congressional report showing how the U.S. Department of Agriculture worked with leaders of meatpacking companies to keep workers on the job by evading local and state pandemic regulations.

A deadly outbreak in summer 2020 prompted Merced County Public Health to temporarily close the Livingston plant, which for months had refused to implement safety measures, resulting in nine deaths and nearly 400 positive cases at that point. But Foster Farms asked USDA Undersecretary for Food Safety Mindy Brashears and her deputies to intervene.

A company lobbyist bragged in an email that Brashears “hasn’t lost a battle for us” and sent Brashears information on her personal email account — apparently attempting to avoid the routine disclosure expected if her government email had been used, the report reveals.

Brashears tried to bully Merced Public Health, telling them she — not they — had authority to regulate such businesses, the report says. She referenced a Trump executive order authorizing meatpacking plants to stay open during the pandemic — but it did not give federal officials power to preempt local public health. Internal emails showed that the Trump administration then asked that meatpacking companies “issue positive statements and social media about the President’s action on behalf of the industry,” the report says.

One Merced public health official told the select subcommittee, “It seemed as though Foster Farms had personal connection to USDA, so they called in that connection and fully anticipated that they would not have any health order implemented on them.”

How not to protect workers

Ultimately, the feds backed down and Foster Farms was forced to close for six days.

It’s worse when one considers the backdrop. Before Brashears tried throwing around her political weight, Foster Farms had refused Merced public health’s recommendation that all workers be regularly tested for the virus. The company instead conducted random testing, which still showed an infection rate of 29% — much higher than the average positivity rate throughout Merced County of 16% at the time.

“Meatpacking companies knew the risk posed by the coronavirus to their workers and knew it wasn’t a risk that the country needed them to take,” the report concludes. “They nonetheless lobbied aggressively — successfully enlisting USDA as a close collaborator in their efforts — to keep workers on the job in unsafe conditions.”

Shame on Foster Farms, and shame on federal officials participating in this travesty.

No amount of profit justifies diminished health and loss of life.