John,

Last week, President Trump called for the reopening of meatpacking plants across the country, despite the fact that they’ve been hotspots for the coronavirus . In fact, there have been over 2,400 cases in the Sioux City area alone in the past week, making it the #1 hotspot in the country, because so many meatpacking families live and work in Sioux City.

Powerful corporations lobbied the president relentlessly until he declared the plants as critical infrastructure without providing necessary personal protective equipment (PPE), putting thousands of workers at terrible risk.

Once again, we are seeing how the lack of enforcement of antitrust laws hurts our workers and farmers: For decades, corporations have been consolidating the industry, creating bigger and bigger processing plants. Just 50 beef plants process 98% of the beef in our country, so if one goes down, there are big implications to worker safety and our food supply.

This order clearly endangers worker safety, but it also gives our farmers the short end of the stick. Packers dictate how farmers raise their livestock, the price, the market, and a lot of their choices. They also jack up the prices of boxed beef, the output of slaughterhouses, while cutting pay to farmers and ranchers for live cattle just to maximize the profits.

All of this benefits corporations and leaves our workers and farmers in the dust.

Add your name to our petition calling for safety protections for our workers. We CANNOT put corporate interests above the health and safety of our workers and a fair price for farmers.

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No matter what, we’ve seen these multinational corporations will do whatever it takes to earn an extra buck -- even at the expense of workers and farmers, even during a pandemic. Well, corporations have lobbyists to do their bidding; workers and farmers have us.

Instead of forcing our workers back to work in unsafe conditions, let’s:
- Enforce antitrust laws.
- Create more competitive markets so jobs and money stay in our own communities, and not to Wall St and stockholders.
- Hold packers accountable for price-fixing.
- Provide strong health and safety protections for meatpacking plant workers.

Enough is enough. We have to act now to save lives, save livelihoods, and save our farming industry as we know it. Add your name to our petition today.

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Thank you for stepping up and taking action.

The time to act is now.

Standing Tall for All,

J.D. Scholten


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Scholten4Iowa
P.O. Box 3531
Sioux City, IA 51102

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