Letter to Eugene Scalia, Secretary of Labor - senate and House Democrats Demand Answers from Secretary Scalia on Labor Department's Involvement in Weakening Covid-19 Workplace Safety Guidance for Nation's Largest Meatpacking Plant

Letter

Dear Secretary Scalia:

We are writing regarding the involvement of the Department of Labor (DOL) with the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) site visit memorandum and recommendations to the
Smithfield Foods Sioux Falls Pork Plant (Smithfield) during April 2020.

As you may know, in response to a major COVID-19 outbreak at Smithfield, the South Dakota
Department of Health (SD-DOH) requested CDC assistance in the form of an Epi-Aid in order to
develop recommendations to reduce transmission of COVID-19 among the plant's workers. The
CDC and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) conducted several
in-person visits to Smithfield in April of this year, and on April 22, 2020, the CDC issued a site
visit memorandum and recommendations to Smithfield to help reduce COVID-19 infections
among its employees.1 After it came to our attention that CDC issued a Version 1 of this
document before issuing Version 2 on April 22, 2020, Representative Adams requested--and
NIOSH recently provided--a copy of Version 1.2 The date on Version 1 was April 21, 2020,
one day before Version 2 was issued.

According to NIOSH's responses to the Committee on Education and Labor's requests, Version
1 was cleared internally by two task forces within the CDC team before CDC subsequently
replaced it with Version 2.3

A comparison of the two versions shows several differences,
including phrases like "if feasible," "consider," and "if possible" that appear to weaken the
recommendations.

CDC Director Redfield has informed Senator Baldwin that his office was in contact with DOL
about the Smithfield outbreak during the time that CDC was working on their site visit
memorandum. In order to better understand the reasons and process behind the changes from
Version 1 and Version 2, and DOL's role in those changes, please provide the following answers
and information:
1. Copies of all emails, attachments, and other communications between DOL and CDC or
the Department of Agriculture (USDA) regarding any version of the site visit
1 Strategies to reduce COVID-19 transmission at the Smithfield Foods Sioux Falls Pork Plant, CDC (April 22,
2020). 2 Strategies to reduce COVID-19 transmission at the Smithfield Foods Sioux Falls Pork Plant, CDC (April 21,
2020). 3 NIOSH responses to Questions for the Record, Examining the Federal Government's Actions to Protect Workers
from COVID-1, Committee on Education and Labor Workforce Protections Subcommittee Hearing (May 28, 2020).
The Hon. Eugene Scalia
October 5, 2020
Page 2
memorandum, including but not limited to emails, memos or phone conversations
concerning the April 20 summary or pre-clearance draft of the site visit memorandum.
2. Copies of all emails, attachments, and other communications between Smithfield, its
representatives, or any other entity acting on behalf of Smithfield and DOL regarding this
site visit memorandum, including but not limited to emails, memos or phone
conversations concerning the April 20 summary or pre-clearance draft of the site visit
memorandum.
3. Copies of any reports, notes, summaries, or other descriptions of the in-person visits
received or reviewed by DOL concerning the visit that CDC and NIOSH conducted at
Smithfield on April 16 and 17.
4. A list of all the versions of this site visit memorandum or any summaries that were
received or reviewed by DOL, including but not limited to the pre-clearance draft that
was sent to the South Dakota Department of Health on April 20, Version 1, Version 2,
and any other drafts.
5. Copies of all emails, attachments, and other verbal and written communications between
DOL and any other federal agency or the South Dakota Department of Health regarding
any version of this site visit memorandum.
Please provide the requested information by October 19, 2020.
If you have any questions, please contact Cathy Yu at (202) 225-9721 or
cathy.yu@mail.house.gov. Please direct all official correspondence to the Committee's Clerk,
Mariah Mowbray, at Mariah.Mowbray@mail.house.gov.
Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter, and we look forward to your response.

Source