How is this going to fix the problem? If they don't have enough employees to operate the plant, forcing them to open isn't going to accomplish anything.
If too many people call out because they're pussies, you can't do anything. What? Fire them? Then they collect double what they usually make in unemployment benefits.
I think a better temporary solution is less processing. Processing chicken? No more processing them 15 different ways. Whole chickens only. You want only wings or only breasts? Then hope your local supermarket butcher can do that for you. Beef? You'd better get used to buying more than you're used to and cut it up yourself at home before freezing it. Pork and turkey same thing.
This will all be over soon anyways. If you almost exclusively eat at restaurants you may not even notice a difference. The only way for many restaurants to survive historically is buying only the very base ingredients and doing everything themselves anyways. Did you think restaurants bought individually wrapped steaks?
Let's be honest, from the consumer perspective, the only difference this will cause is we'll have higher food costs for a month or two.
This is a problem other places are having, too. Some employees just refuse to go to work because they are too scared. That's not a reason to stop going to work. If you suddenly become agoraphobic and refuse to leave your house, is it on your employer to keep paying you until you stop being scared? Hell no. They fire your ass and get someone else.
Maybe these places are going to have a large overturn, but look how many people out there just lost their jobs and want to work. I can't imagine they will have a hard time replacing the sheep.
And as for "they will just make more on unemployment", not right now they won't. Entire states are turning away unemployment cases left and right because they are quickly running out of money. A job is a huge commodity to have right now.
This might not be the answer, but at this point, what is? We have states warning that they may not reopen their economies for the next 2 years. You think this is just going to pass, there's a strong likelihood it won't. At least not before a lot of these places shutter for good.
I know this would be abused, and I don’t have a solution for that, BUT I would support people being qualified for unemployment if they are in a high risk group and their employer can’t isolate them (like in a meat processing line) and therefore can’t return to work.
I am aware of that. Restaurant meat and retail meat are two completely different things. Processing is the issue. Lack of processing hurts the retail end significantly more than the food service end. Food service does most of the processing themselves. Food service doesn't need to receive perfectly portioned 4 ounce chicken breasts and 8 ounce burger patties. They do that themselves.
If you do grocery shopping, you're just going to have to get used to buying a 40 pound box of chicken like restaurants do for a month or two. If meat packing plants are running on a limited staff, do you think they're going to focus on packaging 10 packs of chicken wings, or moving as much as possible?
How is this going to fix the problem? If they don't have enough employees to operate the plant, forcing them to open isn't going to accomplish anything.
If too many people call out because they're pussies, you can't do anything. What? Fire them? Then they collect double what they usually make in unemployment benefits.
I think a better temporary solution is less processing. Processing chicken? No more processing them 15 different ways. Whole chickens only. You want only wings or only breasts? Then hope your local supermarket butcher can do that for you. Beef? You'd better get used to buying more than you're used to and cut it up yourself at home before freezing it. Pork and turkey same thing.
This will all be over soon anyways. If you almost exclusively eat at restaurants you may not even notice a difference. The only way for many restaurants to survive historically is buying only the very base ingredients and doing everything themselves anyways. Did you think restaurants bought individually wrapped steaks?
Let's be honest, from the consumer perspective, the only difference this will cause is we'll have higher food costs for a month or two.
This is a problem other places are having, too. Some employees just refuse to go to work because they are too scared. That's not a reason to stop going to work. If you suddenly become agoraphobic and refuse to leave your house, is it on your employer to keep paying you until you stop being scared? Hell no. They fire your ass and get someone else.
Maybe these places are going to have a large overturn, but look how many people out there just lost their jobs and want to work. I can't imagine they will have a hard time replacing the sheep.
And as for "they will just make more on unemployment", not right now they won't. Entire states are turning away unemployment cases left and right because they are quickly running out of money. A job is a huge commodity to have right now.
This might not be the answer, but at this point, what is? We have states warning that they may not reopen their economies for the next 2 years. You think this is just going to pass, there's a strong likelihood it won't. At least not before a lot of these places shutter for good.
I know this would be abused, and I don’t have a solution for that, BUT I would support people being qualified for unemployment if they are in a high risk group and their employer can’t isolate them (like in a meat processing line) and therefore can’t return to work.
But at least if we eat our meat, we can have pudding.
Of course. To do the opposite would be unthinkable.
The meat the restaurants buy needs to come from somewhere. Meat packing plants.
I am aware of that. Restaurant meat and retail meat are two completely different things. Processing is the issue. Lack of processing hurts the retail end significantly more than the food service end. Food service does most of the processing themselves. Food service doesn't need to receive perfectly portioned 4 ounce chicken breasts and 8 ounce burger patties. They do that themselves.
If you do grocery shopping, you're just going to have to get used to buying a 40 pound box of chicken like restaurants do for a month or two. If meat packing plants are running on a limited staff, do you think they're going to focus on packaging 10 packs of chicken wings, or moving as much as possible?
I could see the stores repackaging vs 40 lb boxes, or that will cause immediate shortages as the first people are forced to buy 40lb.