Arkansas Online

Tyson set to require shots for workers

Nov. 1 deadline tentatively made

NATHAN OWENS

Tyson Foods said Tuesday that it will require its 120,000 U.S. workers to be fully vaccinated as concerns mount over the delta variant of the coronavirus.

Office workers are required to be vaccinated by Oct. 1. All others, including meat-processing workers, must be fully vaccinated by Nov. 1, subject to talks with plants represented by unions.

This action, for which Tyson reportedly had no plans earlier this week, came after other major companies began adopting some form of vaccine mandate to curb the spread of the virus.

Executives with Disney, Google and Walmart, among others, are making the vaccinations a condition of employment after federal health officials urged Americans to mask up, fully vaccinated or not, as more contagious variants of covid-19 spread into areas with low vaccination rates.

Some communities, doctors and hospitals are overwhelmed again, with nearly

all U.S. hospitalizations and deaths among those who are unvaccinated, Donnie King, Tyson’s president and chief executive officer, said in a company memo.

“It is abundantly clear that getting vaccinated is the single most effective thing we can do to protect ourselves, our families and our communities,” he said.

In addition to the mandate for office workers, meatpackers and others, Tyson is requiring all new hires be vaccinated before their start date. Workers represented by unions are subject to the results of union bargaining on the issue.

Tyson said it has a verification program to help keep track of those fully vaccinated.

There are exceptions to the mandate for workers seeking medical or religious accommodation.

These decisions were not easy, King said. Tyson has spent months encouraging workers to get vaccinated, hosting more than 100 events to provide easy access to the shots, and so far fewer than half of Tyson’s employees have received it — about 56,000 employees.

Tyson said it has spent more than $700 million related to fighting covid-19, including the purchase of masks, face shields and temperature scanners; the testing of thousands of workers every week for the virus; and the hiring of 200 nurses and its first chief medical officer.

Meatpackers and other “front-line” workers are eligible for incentives, including compensation for four hours of regular pay if they are vaccinated outside of their normal shift or elsewhere, as well as $200 as a “thank-you” payment.

“We take this step today because nothing is more important than our team members’ health and safety,” King said Tuesday.

Lawsuits have already been filed on behalf of at least 49 Tyson workers who either died or were sickened by virus, purportedly after contracting it at work.

The decision to require vaccinations for workers is a far cry from the voluntary “personal decision” approach adopted by many companies and sports organizations.

The United Food and Commercial Workers union, which represents 250,000 meatpacking and food processing workers in the United States, said it supports and encourages workers to get vaccinated.

However, UFCW International President Marc Peronne said in a statement that it is “concerning that Tyson is implementing this mandate before the FDA has fully approved the vaccine.”

The union stressed that the mandate must be negotiated and plans to meet with Tyson in the coming weeks to ensure the rights of the workers are protected.

Many of the businesses requiring vaccinations are staffed by office workers, many of them vaccinated and reluctant to work alongside others who aren’t.

Businesses that rely on blue-collar workers have shied away from mandates out of fear of driving away workers and worsening labor shortages.

Walmart, for instance, has declined to require vaccinations for its hourly workers, but encourages them to do so through bonuses and easy access to shots. In a possible sign of things to come, the company is now requiring employees at its Bentonville headquarters to be fully vaccinated in the next 60 days.

Tyson on Monday told The Associated Press that there were no plans to impose a vaccination mandate. The next day, Tyson called itself the largest U.S. food company to require covid-19 vaccinations for its entire workforce.

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2021-08-04T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-08-04T07:00:00.0000000Z

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