Six of the seven managers fired from the Tyson’s Food Plant in Waterloo in December 2020 for creating a betting pool to wager on workers getting COVID-19 are suing the company, claiming they earned incentive payments for meeting production goals they never received. The Des Moines Register reported on Tuesday that five fired managers filed […]
Tyson Foods
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Tyson asks U.S. Supreme Court to shield it from COVID-19 lawsuits in Iowa courts
Faced with court rulings that say a Trump administration directive doesn’t protect Tyson Foods from liability caused by workers’ deaths due to COVID-19, the food giant is now asking the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in on the matter. Arguing that recent court rulings against the company will have “drastic consequences for the next national […]
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Book Review: ‘Meatpacking America’ by Kristy Nabhan-Warren
In the popular imagination, the small-town Midwest exists in a state of fixed, unchanging idyll, in which people who have always lived there and always will pass on to their children the rural values and traditions they themselves inherited. For some, often on the political right, these values are hard work, temperance of spirit and […]
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Iowa Department of Public Health understated extent of COVID-19 outbreak at Columbus Junction Tyson plant
On May 5, almost a month after an outbreak of COVID-19 forced the Tyson meat processing plant in Columbus Junction to temporarily close, the Iowa Department of Public Health finally announced how many workers at the plant had tested positive. But according to a new report from the Associated Press, the number IDPH Deputy Director […]
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Gov. Reynolds won’t ‘second guess’ Tyson’s decision to penalize workers for missing shifts due to illness, as another 694 cases of COVID-19 are reported in Iowa
Gov. Kim Reynolds focused on defending Test Iowa from critics during her prepared remarks at her press conference on Thursday. “Test Iowa is now generating more tests than any other testing option in Iowa,” she said. “While we have not yet hit our capacity of 3,000 tests in one day, I’m proud that we’re getting close. Our highest daily total to date is 2,356 tests.”
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The Iowa Legislature reconvenes, will consider protecting businesses from COVID-19 lawsuits
On Wednesday, the Iowa Legislature reconvened for the first time since March 16, when it went into emergency recess in response to the spread of COVID-19 in the state. And issues related to the virus will loom large in the coming weeks.
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‘Only you know what’s best for you and your family’: Individuals, business owners given reins as Iowa’s cases near 15,000
“We continue to trend in the right direction, further validating that the time is right to move into the recovery phase and begin reopening Iowa,” Gov. Kim Reynolds said at her press conference on Monday. The governor did not mention she received a report from a team of researchers at the University of Iowa College […]
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Where Reynolds sees ‘some positive trends’ in Iowa’s COVID-19 data, the Black Hawk County sheriff sees ‘failures of corporate greed and governmental ignorance’
At her press conference on Monday, Gov. Kim Reynolds said she would announce further relaxations of the state’s remaining COVID-19 restrictions on Tuesday. But the governor started her Tuesday press conference by saying that announcement would now be made on Wednesday. “I’m still reviewing some information with the Department of Public Health and my team […]
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Vice President Pence says Iowans are ‘blessed’ to have Kim Reynolds as governor, praises meat processing plants during visit to Iowa
“The people of Iowa have been blessed by the leadership of Gov. Kim Reynolds,” Vice President Mike Pence said during his visit to the state on Friday. Pence was speaking to a group of religious leaders at Westkirk Presbyterian Church in Urbandale, one of two scheduled public events on Friday. “One of the things the […]
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Iowa has its second record-setting day in a row, as 757 new cases of COVID-19 are reported
The Iowa Department of Public Health reported on Saturday that another 757 Iowans have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the state to 8,641. The new number breaks the record for the number of cases reported on a single day that was set on Friday. Gov. Reynolds warned Friday […]
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Trump uses Defense Production Act to shield meat processing plants from COVID-19 liability
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday evening invoking the Defense Production Act (DPA) to order all beef, pork, poultry and egg processing plants in the country to remain open and continue working. The executive order said the recent closures of meat processing plants following outbreaks of COVID-19 “threaten the continued functioning of […]
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Tyson finally closes Waterloo plant, while Reynolds fields questions about the no-bid contract behind Test Iowa
Gov. Kim Reynolds struck a very optimistic note near the end of her press conference on Wednesday. “Every day we’re making significant advances in addressing COVID-19 to the point where we’re going to start talking about how we can open things up in this state, based on what we’ve been able to do and based […]
