Food giant Tyson requires all U.S. workers to be vaccinated against COVID | Business and Economic News

With the return of the coronavirus, meat processing giant Tyson is one of the first major employers of front-line workers to require all U.S. employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

Tyson Foods, a meat processor, will require all its employees in the United States to be vaccinated against COVID-19, becoming one of the first major employers to vaccinate frontline workers. Coronavirus is making a comeback.

As one of the world’s largest food companies, Tyson said on Tuesday that its leadership team members must be vaccinated by September 24, and other office workers must be vaccinated by October 1. Its frontline employees must be vaccinated by November 1, although the company said it is negotiating with the union on specifics.

U.S. officials It said on Monday that COVID-19 cases and the number of hospitalizations and deaths caused by the coronavirus have increased last week, although vaccination rates have increased as concerns about the highly contagious Delta variant of the virus have increased.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Report There are an average of more than 66,000 new COVID-19 cases in the United States every day, an increase of 64% from the previous week and higher than the peak set in the summer of 2020.

Nothing is more important than the health and safety of our team members. We are taking the next step to fight this epidemic and require all US team members to be fully vaccinated by November 1st, but the location of the union representative needs to be discussed. https://t.co/5F1hDkZef8 pic.twitter.com/PK9A0EveZd

-Tyson Foods (@TysonFoods) August 3, 2021

Tyson said that since the first of its more than 100 vaccination campaigns in February, nearly half of Tyson’s American employees (approximately 56,000 employees) have been vaccinated.

The Springfield, Arkansas company plans to continue these events and provide a $200 bonus to all front-line workers receiving the coronavirus vaccine.

In a memo to employees, CEO Downey King expressed shock at the rise of the more contagious Delta variant and made it clear that a vaccine is needed to overcome the continued hesitation to get vaccinated.

“We did not take the decision lightly. We spent several months encouraging our team members to vaccinate-today, our team members are less than half,” Jin wrote. “We took this step today because nothing is more important than the health and safety of our team members, and we thank them for the work they do every day to help us feed this country and our world.”

Tyson’s brands include Jimmy Dean and Hillshire Farm. The company has been struggling to deal with the deadly virus that broke out in its factories and is facing lawsuits from the families of some workers. The company said in a press release that the number of infections in its factory is currently at a low level after the company spent $700 million on its efforts to protect workers.

Despite months of publicity campaigns, bonuses, vacations, and other incentives to encourage people to vaccinate, private employers in the United States are increasingly compelling workers to be vaccinated, and they are frustrated that the vaccination rate has stabilized. Other employers, including the federal government and some state and local authorities, require unvaccinated workers to be tested once a week.

But in the private sector, many mandatory vaccine requirements come from companies that are mainly office workers, who have already been vaccinated to a large extent.

Tyson Foods team members receive the COVID-19 vaccine provided by health officials at the company’s factory in Wilkesboro, North Carolina [File: Melissa Melvin/AP Images for Tyson Foods]

Many companies that rely on large amounts of low-income labor, including Amazon, Walmart and major grocery chains, have so far refused to compulsorily vaccinate their front-line workers, partly to avoid exacerbating labor shortages and continuing labor mobility. Many unions also firmly oppose mandatory vaccination for their workers.

The spread of Delta variants has also prompted some companies to re-implement Regulations for workers to wear masks -Even those who are vaccinated-are in line with the new CDC guidelines.

Union auto workers of the three companies, General Motors, Ford, and Stellatis, will have to wear masks again, regardless of their vaccinations, according to a decision announced by a working group of representatives from these companies and the American Federation of Auto Workers on Tuesday.The move came less than a month after allowing union workers to be vaccinated Take off their masks.