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Nebraska lawmakers considering bill to increase protections for meat and poultry workers

Nebraska lawmakers are considering a bill that could increase protections for meatpacking and poultry workers during animal disease outbreaks.

State Senator Dunixi Guereca is the bill’s sponsor.

“This bill emerges from an urgent need to bridge meatpackers and agricultural production while ensuring, even during unpredictable disasters, that our supply chain continues to function without interruption,” he says.

The Legislature’s Business and Labor Committee heard testimony on the bill this week. Jessica Kolterman with Lincoln Premium Poultry says she supports the intent of keeping workers safe, but not the legislation.

“As part of our organizational management, we actually already have our emergency plans in place, so we believe we are prepared,” she says.

Kolterman says protocol for animal disease outbreaks are guided by the USDA and Nebraska Department of Agriculture.

Epidemiologist Rob Wallace, with the Agroecology and Rural Economics Research Corps, supports the bill and says the increase in larger scale farming operations has accelerated the evolution and spread of viruses and bacteria.

“Epidemiologically, contract farmers, farm workers and meatpackers represent the conduit through which these new pathogens typically move into the general population, whether or not a new pathogen emerges from inside Nebraska,” he says.

If passed, the bill would provide at least two years of healthcare for covered workers impacted by a disaster, at least 12 weeks’ severance pay for covered workers and six months of lost wages for workers impacted by a disaster. A state task force would also be created to provide oversight on safe industry practices.

The committee took no action Monday on whether to advance the bill to the full Legislature.