Lochnertastic
By 
When I said the Republican Party was dedicated to killing workers, I wasn’t kidding. And of course, it’s when people’s access to endless meat is threatened that Republicans act to force people to work, rather than, say, massive mask or ventilator production efforts.
BREAKING NEWS: Trump executive order will mandate various meat/egg processing plants stay open. Trump had signaled in Oval minutes ago he’d sign an EO today aimed at Tyson Foods’s liability. The order, though, will not be limited to Tyson, I’m told.https://t.co/0J6n10JNrD
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) April 28, 2020
The liability limitation executive order, the legality of which I am unclear of, is also Mitch McConnell’s latest gambit since he took enough heat on not funding states to back off of that.
Democratic leaders are panning Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s offer to marry new liability protections with aid to state and city governments, signaling a tough fight ifor Congress’ next round of coronavirus aid.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said in an interview on Monday afternoon that he is “going to insist” that providing liability protections to businesses and employees be part of the next bill that will provide billions to local governments. But Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) may not go along.
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Some Republicans from coronavirus-wracked states like Louisiana and New York want to provide more money to their states, while others oppose even the general idea of sending states money. After repeatedly panning bailouts of state and local governments and suggesting they might declare bankruptcy instead, McConnell on Monday said he could support adding more state and local money “provided we have the right kind of nonfinancial relief.”
“We probably will do another bill. What I’m saying is it won’t just be about money. It will be about other things that we think are important in the aftermath of this pandemic. And at the top of my list is liability protections for the brave people who have been manning the front lines during this and the brave people who will be opening their businesses fearful that they will be sued,” McConnell said on Monday.
I love how a line about how “protecting the brave people who have manning the front lines” means the bosses in their offices and not the actual workers who are getting sick and dying. This is a naked attempt to decimate labor protections and ease in a new era where employers have zero legal responsibility for their workers, a la, the Lochner-Triangle era. The New Gilded Age indeed.
….One thing people are sort of missing in comments–meatpacking is horrible all the time. Yeah, this is especially bad. But to be honest, meatpacking is a deadly profession in its modern context. This shouldn’t just be an outrage over making meatpacking plants run during a time of pandemic. It should be a time to demand a complete overhaul of meatpacking to ensure that workers are safe all the time, which they very much are not. If you are a meat eater who is going to stop eating it because of the virus, well, consider continuing that until actual changes are made. This is only indicative of a much larger problem in the industry.