Nearly 900 workers at Tyson Foods plant in Indiana test positive for coronavirus | Hacker News Reader

Nearly 900 workers at Tyson Foods plant in Indiana test positive for coronavirus

foxnews.com

Weirdly, the way “essential” food workers were ordered back to work has had me thinking of the Ayn Rand rhetoric about the evils of human sacrifice. Really, instead of being ordered back to work, they should organize and be able to demand ridiculous hazard pay right now.

Everyone in these essential jobs is basically unvalued and in the one time in their lives where people need their services the most, they get trampled worse than ever

The situation is pretty complex. People at the top decided that only these essential workers deserved to make a living and put many people out of a job. So you have a big supply of recently unemployed people ready to replace any of these essential workers if they started organizing for more pay or what have you. Unemployment insurance is nice, but not everyone was working before this happened, so that's a lot of people left out from getting some kind of government assistance. Also, they decided to close down schools, so now you have a lot of >16 year old kids with laid off parents who are probably now trying to get any kind of job so that they can help themselves or their family. I think the government did not go hardline enough about supporting everyone, so they've created a sick situation where people are begging to go back to work during a pandemic instead of enjoying their once in a lifetime forced vacation.

>>So you have a big supply of recently unemployed people ready to replace any of these essential workers if they started organizing for more pay or what have you

Maybe, but I doubt. These job pay less than a living wage so any increase sure isn't gonna make up for the fact that you will probably get the virus--with all its uncertainties.

Want me to work so people eat lettuce, pork and beef? Sure, pay up and spend on safety

Well, that's you. Most people aren't tech/knowledge workers who are allowed to be selective about what work they do.

Meat, and therefore the meat industry, isn't essential. A well-planned vegan diet is perfectly healthy and nutritionally adequate for all ages, including children [0,1,2,3,4].

[0] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27886704/

[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19562864/Die

[2] http://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/disease-prevention/...

[3] https://www.dietitians.ca/Downloads/Factsheets/Guidlines-for...

[4] https://www.bda.uk.com/foodfacts/vegetarianfoodfacts.pdf

It's basically impossible to post anything of this sort on HN without being downvoted to oblivion.

The skeptical, critical thinking skills of the audience here don't come close to matching the general technical ability.

Supply chains don't completely rewrite themselves overnight. Shutting down meat distribution doesn't help people eat. For the time frame of '2020', the meat industry is essential.

The supply chain goes like this... plants -> animal -> human consumption. Yes you can rewrite overnight to plants -> humans.

But on this topic I'm better off talking to the wall of bricks next to me than the HN audience

> Yes you can rewrite overnight

We have shortages in supermarkets and food rotting on farms at the same time. Rewriting a supply chain is hard, and your amazing line-drawing skills aren't going to fix that overnight.

And you didn't even address how much of that plant matter doesn't meet human quality standards. Even more to significantly rework.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com