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“As cases multiplied, local officials like Ras Smith, an education consultant who represents Waterloo’s historically Black east side in the state Legislature, took calls from workers, frantic and fearful, about the conditions at the sprawling pork plant:
“ ‘A coworker vomited on the line and management let him continue to work. … There are eight people working in front of me and another 10 or more behind me. … I am scared I will die because of work, but I need to work to buy food for my family.’ “
“Meanwhile, a lawsuit would later allege, top Tyson managers in Waterloo were directing interpreters to downplay the threat of infection at the plant, while privately making winner-take-all bets on how many workers would test positive. (Seven managers were fired last week).
“With the scale of the crisis growing, Black Hawk County Sheriff Tony Thompson, who heads the county’s emergency management commission, joined with other local officials to urge Tyson to close the plant.
“But they were rebuffed, not only by Tyson — whose CEO would publicly blame communities like Waterloo for bringing the virus into its plants — but by Gov. Kim Reynolds, who resisted virus restrictions and blocked local officials from shutting businesses themselves.
“No one, Thompson realized, was going to stand up against Tyson. They were on their own.”
