Trump Orders Meat Plants to Stay Open in Move Unions Slam
- President will invoke Defense Production Act after closures
- At least 6,500 workers sickened or in isolation, union says
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President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday that compels slaughterhouses to remain open, setting up a showdown between the giant companies that produce America’s meat and the unions and activists who want to protect workers in a pandemic.
Meat processing plants around the U.S. have shut down because of the coronavirus, but Trump said in the order that “such closures threaten the continued functioning of the national meat and poultry supply chain, undermining critical infrastructure during the national emergency.”