CHICAGO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Smithfield Foods Inc [SFII.UL] is missing about a third of its employees at a South Dakota pork plant because they are quarantined or afraid to return to work after a severe coronavirus outbreak, according to the workers’ union.
Nationwide, 30% to 50% of meatpacking employees were absent last week, said Mark Lauritsen, a vice president at the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW).
At the Smithfield pork plant in Sioux Falls about 1,200 employees – about a third of the workforce – were absent as of June 1, including some who quit, said BJ Motley, president of the UFCW local. The plant closed from about April 15 to May 7 as more than 850 workers tested positive for the virus.
Smithfield, owned by China’s WH Group Ltd (0288.HK), said it has implemented aggressive measures to protect employees.
“Absenteeism remains a challenge, but we are managing,” the company said in a statement to Reuters. Smithfield declined to disclose its levels of absenteeism.
