COMM 642

Ester Todd
February 24, 2021
Discussion Board # 2

When the COVID-19 pandemic occurred, meat-packing plants across the United States

were hit hard with outbreaks and virus-related deaths. Tyson Foods, the largest producer of meat

and poultry in the United States, has faced a huge crisis over the past year. After more than a

year of continuous growth, their stock plunged to $52.51 in March 2020, after hitting $92.91 just

two months prior. They have received negative press coverage on a nearly weekly basis as

employees and the media alike have criticized the company’s safety measures for employees. In

September 2020, headlines across the U.S. highlighted a lawsuit against Tyson brought by the

family of a deceased employee who died from COVID-19. Similar to other allegations this past

year, the lawsuit claimed gross negligence—the individual was forced to work in unsafe

conditions without proper protective equipment, safety policies were lacking, and Tyson’s

statements were “fraudulent misrepresentation” (Jett, 2020). When asked for comment, Tyson

responded: “We’re saddened by the loss of any Tyson team member and sympathize with their

families. Our top priority is the health and safety of our workers and we’ve implemented a host

of protective measures at our facilities that meet or exceed CDC and OSHA guidance for

preventing the virus. Currently, less than one-half of one percent of our U.S. workforce has

active Covid-19” (Jett, 2020)

Tyson’s response was not well accepted, as in what can only be recognized as cruel

irony, the above lawsuit was amended in November of 2020 to add additional, serious

allegations: upper-level managers were afraid of the virus, so they delegated meatpacking floor

duties to lower level supervisors who had no experience; safety meetings were canceled; positive
cases were denied by supervisors; the Waterloo plant manager organized a cash buy-in betting

pool for supervisors and managers to wager on how many employees would test positive for

COVID-19” (Wiener-Bronner, 2020).

In December of 2020, New York City Comptroller, Scott Stringer, sent a letter to the

Securities and Exchange commission requesting an investigation into Tyson’s financial report.

Stringer alleged that Tyson “misrepresented” it’s COVID-19 precautions: Tyson actually had

twice as many workers die of COVID-19 than any other packing plant (Martin, 2021). Their

stock consequentially fell 8.5%. This led to January 2021, when a class action complaint was

filed against the company (Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C. vs. Tyson Foods, Inc., 2021). This

complaint claims that, despite being well aware of the pandemic, Tyson did not have sufficient

safety protocols to protect its employees. At risk of financial harm if they had closed their

facilities, it is alleged that Tyson made false and misleading statements which caused investors to

suffer damage once the truth was evident (Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C. vs. Tyson Foods, Inc.,

2021). Tyson’s response was to stick by their original stance: "[we have] implemented and

continue to implement safety measures in all our facilities…health and safety of our team

members is our top priority." (Martin, 2021).

Fearn-Banks notes that “public relations is concerned with reputation” (2017, p. 3), and I

believe that is really key in the Tyson Foods case. Their reputation has been severely tarnished

over the past 12 months, as issue after issue has occurred. The biggest prodrome (p. 5) that

Tyson missed was the likelihood of high infection rates due to the congregate setting nature of

their processing plants. The CDC pointed out that all processing plants are a breeding ground for

infection, as they face difficulties with social distancing, hygiene, crowded living, and

transportation conditions (Dyal, Grant, Broadwater, et al., 2020).

 Tyson has responded to the crisis by interacting with the media and ensuring that key

messages (Fearn-Banks, 2017, p. 50) are communicated repeatedly. Their first key messages

appear to be:

1. Things are not is not as bad as they appear to be.

2. Our top priority has been, is, and always will be safety and health.

These messages are interesting to me because Tyson’s apologia strategy (Fearn-Banks, 2017, p.

18) is dissociation (Fearn-Banks, 2017, p. 18), as the company deflects from the situation,

showing that they may have seemed to not value their employee’s safety and health, but only

half a percent of their employees were ill. However, later reports came forward showing that

Tyson was not transparent in their numbers or actions, violating the first of the seven Page

Principles—to tell the truth (Fearn-Banks, 2017, p. 42). To date, 12,500+ employees have

become ill and several dozen have died. Tyson has also violated the second Page Principle,

which is to “prove it with action” (Fearn-Banks, 2017, p. 42); despite stating that safety is their

number one priority, they failed to shut-down plants when needed, misrepresented their numbers,

and placed monetary gain over safety.

 References

Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C. vs. Tyson Foods, Inc. (U.S. District Court: Eastern District of New

York) (2021) Complaint at: https://www.bespc.com/cases/TSN#overview

Dyal JW, Grant MP, Broadwater K, et al. COVID-19 Among Workers in Meat and Poultry

Processing Facilities ― 19 States, April 2020. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep

2020;69:557–561. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6918e3external icon

Fearn-Banks, K. (2017). Crisis Communications: A Casebook Approach. Routledge.

Jett, T. (2020, October 6). Family of Tyson employee in Iowa who died of COVID-19 sues

company, alleging gross negligence. Des Moines Register.

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/money/business/2020/10/06/tyson-foods-sued-

over-columbus-junction-workers-covid-19-death-iowa/3636300001/.

Martin, J. (2021, February 3). Twice as many workers died of COVID at Tyson Foods than any

other meatpacker: Lawsuit. Newsweek. https://www.newsweek.com/twice-many-workers-

died-covid-tyson-foods-any-other-meatpacker-lawsuit-1566343.

Wiener-Bronner, D. (2020, November 19). Managers at Tyson meat plant had betting pool on

how many workers would get Covid, lawsuit alleges. CNN.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/19/business/tyson-coronavirus-lawsuit/index.html.