OMAHA, Nebraska (AP) – U.S. factories have been withdrawing goods for much of the pandemic at rates that are remarkably close to normal. However, manufacturers are worried that they will not be able to keep up until most of the country is vaccinated, because coronavirus continues to rise in areas where there are many plants.
The guarantees that were put in place after the initial wave of the virus appear to have prevented the big outbreaks that made hundreds of workers sick and forced carmakers, meat processors and other companies to stop production in the spring. past. But with the nation’s number of COVID-19 deaths eclipsing 300,000 and the virus in the communities surrounding the plants, industry officials and unions say it may be impossible to keep the virus out of factories.
“We’re seeing an increase in the number of positive (test) rates as you see in the surrounding communities,” said Gary Johnson, head of manufacturing at Ford Motor Co., which has approximately 56,000 factory workers per hour in the whole country.
Federal Reserve statistics show that US industrial production is about 5% below levels in February, before the pandemic hit. It fell 16.5% between February and April, but has since risen, led by car manufacturing.
Beef and pork production has run just below last year’s levels, said Iowa State University agricultural economist Lee Schulz.
But as it will be months before many people can be vaccinated, factories will remain vulnerable.
“While we’re doing well now, this virus can spread quickly to areas,” said Mark Lauritsen, director of the food processing and meat packaging division of the United Food and Commercial Workers International union. “I’m worried every day that this virus will explode again in one of our plants, even with all the precautions we’ve taken.”
At plants and car factories in other industries where the United Auto Workers union represents workers, cases have risen slightly since near Halloween, but almost all have been located outside the plants, the president of at UAW, Rory Gamble.
Since its reopening in May after an eight-week closure, three workers at Fiat Chrysler factories near Detroit have died from the virus, frightening thousands of workers.
Gamble said much of the fear comes from misinformation about workers catching the virus in factories, which is not true.
“They have to fully understand that we are doing everything we can to keep them safe,” Gamble said. “Because they have a right to be afraid.”
Statistics on the impact of the pandemic on the meat packaging industry offer many reasons to worry. The UFCW union, which represents approximately 80% of beef and pork workers and 33% of poultry workers, estimates that at least 19,800 meat-packing workers have been infected or exposed and 128 have died of COVID-19.
Employees like Donald Nix, who works at a Tyson Foods pork processing plant in Waterloo, Iowa, worry about the virus that has sidelined him for 27 days in the spring with fever, body aches and severe headaches.
Nix, 51, is worried that co-workers are still getting sick. During the spring, more than 1,000 of the plant’s 2,800 workers were infected and at least six died. “My job is still high risk. My job is still high risk, ”he said.
But the meat industry giants (Tyson Foods, Smithfield Foods, JBS and Cargill) argue that the security measures put in place after last spring’s major outbreaks have allowed them to limit the spread of the virus.
“We made substantial investments in personal protective equipment, social distance safeguards and other increased safety and health measures throughout our business. Since last spring we have seen a drastic reduction in active cases related to our team members, ”Tyson CEO Dean Banks told banks recently.
Measures include pre-work wellness questionnaires, temperature checks, plastic screens between workstations, increased plant cleanliness, random testing and the mandatory use of masks and other protective equipment. The industry spent about $ 2.5 billion on these improvements and additional payments for workers in the first six months, said Will Sawyer, a protein economist at Cobank, an agri-food bank.
At Ford, factories operate about 98% of their pre-pandemic production. Most workers who show symptoms or have been exposed to the virus stay at home until the danger of infecting other people has passed, which limits its spread to plants, Johnson said. The carmaker hires temporary workers to replace them, which will allow it to keep assembly lines running.
Car and meat packaging companies say that generally less than 1% of their workforce is catching the virus. Automakers and the UAW are urging workers to wear masks in public outside of plants.
Members of the UAW, which represents 150,000 employees of General Motors, Ford and Fiat Chrysler, said companies have largely adhered to its precautions and protocols.
“I know of people who have had it and given it a positive, but from what I know, they do what it’s supposed to do to quarantine them and test them,” said Andrea Repasky, GM van forklift operator. factory in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
People passing through the plant always wear protective equipment properly, he said. Management says how many people test positive in each turn and the numbers have been relatively small, even with a small rise after Thanksgiving, he said.
Ford, General Motors, Toyota and others are starting to see minor problems with smaller parts companies that have to close factories due to virus outbreaks or government restrictions, especially in Mexico. Ford of Johnson said the shortage of truck drivers is affecting parts delivery. The company has lined up goods just in time to get parts to keep the plants running, he said.
Ford had to delay production of its new Bronco SUV from spring to summer due to a shortage of virus-related parts that the company would not specify.
Toyota said it has been on the verge of stopping assembly lines for lack of parts, but so far has managed to avoid it.
“There have been some upcoming calls for sure,” spokesman Scott Vazin said. “On a given day, we have up to ten parties that we are monitoring closely on red alert.”
UFCW Lauritsen said he expects the industry to continue working hard to limit the spread of the virus.
“We can’t be pleased just because things seem to be holding up right now,” Lauritsen said. “We know that plants of any kind (every time people gather in large groups) can act as a super spreader of this virus.”
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Krisher reported from Detroit.
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