text: “Early on we were putting calls into OSHA that went completely unanswered,” said Wendell Young IV, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1776 in the Philadelphia suburbs.
  In an attempt to better protect meatpackers from COVID-19, Young said, the union has been negotiating with those four companies, which include the JBS beef packing plant in Souderton that closed in late March due to an outbreak.
  “OSHA did not issue any orders or directives,” Young said, “nor did they ramp up inspections or enforcement.”
  Instead, he said several companies voluntarily agreed to make changes, such as placing barriers between employees, issuing personal protective equipment and instructing managers to enforce proper personal distance.