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Original poster

Why aren't people angrier about the factories and food processing plants?

28 replies

FinnyStory · 23/08/2020 11:29

Does no one on MN do this kind of work or know people who do?

Is it OK because it only affects poor low paid workers? We're hearing an awful lot about teachers (I am one btw) and our potential risks and nothing's actually happened in schools yet. Why does no one care about these workers and their families?

There've been so many outbreaks now, why aren't they and their following of guidelines being regulated/inspected more?

Why isn't there just a huge backlash against these employers?

OP posts:
EstherLittle · 23/08/2020 11:32

We just like everything cheap and cheerful and don’t like the human cost behind the cheap.

The BooHoo clothing sweatshops has Instagram in a froth for a couple of days but it’s all forgotten now and back to the £5 sweatshirts with feminist slogans...

I’m with you OP. I saw a list of all the Tory cronies who were supposed to provide PPE and have supplied fuck all but seem to have swarmed off with the cash with no consequences.

Heffalooomia · 23/08/2020 11:34

Because access to cheap meat is more important to them

madroid · 23/08/2020 11:34

I don't know enough about them.

My understanding is that the work can't be done with sd. So if there's a case it spreads v quickly.

Is there something that should be done but isn't?

ItsAlwaysSunnyOnMN · 23/08/2020 11:35

Isn’t much of it to do with the conditions of these processing plants are perfect for the virus to spread

They already wear PPE

There is the issue of staff not being paid sick pay as so may go in with mild symptoms, this will be happening in many places

Original poster
FinnyStory · 23/08/2020 11:39

@madroid

I don't know enough about them.

My understanding is that the work can't be done with sd. So if there's a case it spreads v quickly.

Is there something that should be done but isn't?

The work can't be done in the current way, at the current speed with social distancing, but they could distance more if they slowed the lines down, or, if they don't do that, they could provide better PPE. Both obviously come with a cost.

Even just proper sick pay would likely reduce transmission rates.

OP posts:
Original poster
FinnyStory · 23/08/2020 11:41

"They already wear PPE"

They wear the kinds of PPE we've repeatedly been told don't work when worn all day in close confines.

OP posts:
flowerycurtain · 23/08/2020 11:43

Fancy the cost of your food tripling??

Completely agree with you by the way. There's an under culture that props up the way we live our lives. It's not pretty but people value cost over a conscience.

Actually that's not fair of me - people can't afford to listen to their conscience.

Gingernaut · 23/08/2020 11:48

I work in a strictly regimented job where there can be no social distancing, but we work with masks (properly worn over the nose and mouth) and good hygiene.

We are encouraged to 'police' each other as well.

Sadly, many of these factories and food processing plants rely on immigrant labour or 'by the hour' agency workers who are not supervised as closely as permanent staff, not given the information they need to maintain safety by their employer (the agencies), not given the PPE required for their jobs, not given the information in their own language and not given the facilities needed to maintain hygiene.

I worked as a temp in some warehouses for a couple of years and it's frightening how we were taken for granted, expected to show up with our own hi-vi, gloves and safety boots and assumed by the client that the agencies had told us what we were doing.

Safety demonstrations, manual handling and the like were nothing more than a piece of paper to be signed before we started work.

ItsAlwaysSunnyOnMN · 23/08/2020 11:50

I’m not aware of that re PPE

people can't afford to listen to their conscience

Yes I totally agree. But that doesn’t excuse regulations not being tightened but the costs of course shall be passed on

user1497207191 · 23/08/2020 11:54

but they could distance more if they slowed the lines down

The lines need to be fast enough to provide the food for people to eat. If you slow down production, you'd inevitably end up with food shortages. The food doesn't sit in warehouses for weeks after it's been produced - it's off on trucks straight off the production line, especially if fresh/chilled such as ready meals, sandwiches, pies, etc etc. The first two weeks of covid with empty supermarket shelves showed just how little stocks of foods (even longer life tins/packets) were in warehouses.

cariadlet · 23/08/2020 11:58

There was an interesting article about this in yesterday's Guardian (you can probably find it online). Dr David Navarro, a WHO special envoy on Covid-19, talked about a culture of cheap food which is based on driving production costs down but that means people working in food processing are under very tough working conditions and are paid relatively little.

user1497207191 · 23/08/2020 11:59

@flowerycurtain

Fancy the cost of your food tripling??

Completely agree with you by the way. There's an under culture that props up the way we live our lives. It's not pretty but people value cost over a conscience.

Actually that's not fair of me - people can't afford to listen to their conscience.

Agree, and the same applies with other "crowded" places like theatres, theme parks, nightclubs, sports stadia. People are crowded in to make it cheap enough for the masses. You could halve the numbers admitted to such places, and double the price, but then "the poor" would whinge that it was elitist. Same with airplanes - cheap airlines put the seats closer together to get an extra row or two in the plane to keep prices low.
Original poster
FinnyStory · 23/08/2020 11:59

They could be doing regular testing in these high risk places, as they are now in care homes.

Of course it's not easy to solve but is anyone even interested in trying?

OP posts:
OutwiththeOutCrowd · 23/08/2020 12:33

Another aspect is that the immigrant workers who provide cheap labour in the food industry are being housed together in crowded conditions and are also being bussed into work together.

BigChocFrenzy · 23/08/2020 12:57

Most people don't care deeply about the conditions & pay under which their mobile phone or clothes are produced

So they will be even less likely to care about an essential like food,
because if conditions were improved it would mean weekly bills would soar, not just luxuries

BigChocFrenzy · 23/08/2020 12:58

Many people will put their own financial interests above the welfare of others,
whether that be NMW workers or teachers

IwishIwasyoda · 23/08/2020 13:01

I am. And wish the government would prioritise employing people to go out and inspect these places randomly to make sure guidance is being followed - ditto pubs and restaurants. Many are following the rules, some aren't. Think this would do more to keep Covid under control than obsessing about masks in low risk situations

Handsnotwands · 23/08/2020 13:02

It’s not just food processing plants. It’s lots of warehouse and distribution centers. Swindon has seen outbreaks at the sorting office, Honda, b&q, Tesco and Iceland.

netflixismysidehustle · 23/08/2020 13:06

Yanbu

I suspect that they are as crowded as comprehensive schools which will see similar outbreaks once they go back next month.

(I'm not saying that secondary schools should remain shut btw just that they are overcrowded.

Heffalooomia · 23/08/2020 13:29

People are crowded in ...so that corporations can maximise profits, the rich can stay rich and the poor can be kept poor but placated with cheap food and cheap entertainment aka bread and circuses

Heffalooomia · 23/08/2020 13:31

Our whole economy relies on crowding us all together so that things can be done cheaply and maximum profit can be extracted from us
This all has to change, the billionaire's know that the pitchforked will demand fairness

IrenetheQuaint · 23/08/2020 13:35

Yes, I wish people would get angry about these awful unsafe workplaces rather than moaning about teenagers having sleepovers with their friends. The Covid risk is so much greater in these places and it's a horrible environment to work in anyway.

thedevilinablackdress · 23/08/2020 13:43

Because we want cheap food and not too know how it gets so cheap. The % of household income that we spend on food has dropped dramatically over the last few decades. And that's at least partly because the people producing it are underpaid and ill treated.

Original poster
FinnyStory · 23/08/2020 13:48

Exactly Irene. Fury over people having VE Day street parties, crowded parks, too many people in tourist areas, busy pubs etc but no one cares about poor people being exploited, which will have a far bigger effect on all as of us as the infection spread there moves into the community, as had already happened in some areas.

OP posts:
TempestHayes · 23/08/2020 14:31

We can be angry, furious even, but it doesn't mean anything changes. The factory can't hear the anger.

I shop carefully and ethically. I can't really think of what else to do. Write to my MP? He's been AWOL since the election. Make a petition?