At Least Three Coronavirus Cases Confirmed at Vernon Industrial Bakery, About 40 Employees Placed Under Quarantine
Employees say the company did not take sufficient precautions to protect workers and fear dozens of their colleagues may have contracted the virus.
22 minute read Five months after this article was published, Cal/OSHA fined Vie de France Yamazaki $21,575 following an inspection of the company’s Vernon site that found six health and safety violations related to lax COVID-19 protocols.
It started with nausea. Later a headache and bone pain. A high fever followed.
That’s how a local resident who believes they contracted COVID-19 at the industrial bakery in Vernon where they work, described the onset of the disease.
“It felt very different from the regular flu,” the employee, who tested positive for the coronavirus in late March, said. “When I would get out of bed, I felt dizzy and weak. And I had a very strong cough.”
What’s more, they believe they may have infected their 77-year-old mother who was hospitalized with the virus.
That worker and three of their colleagues—who spoke to us on the condition we would not publish their names, for fear of retaliation—said they believed dozens of the bakery’s employees may have contracted the virus.
They said they’ve heard by word of mouth that at least two employees who became sick were later admitted to the hospital.
Vernon’s Health and Environmental Control Department (VHECD) confirmed to FORTHE Media that as of Tuesday, three of the bakery’s 152 employees tested positive for the coronavirus.
Vernon officials also said 40 employees at the plant called in sick “reporting ailments that range from ‘not feeling well’ to headache to flu-like symptoms.” Most of those individuals were placed under a 14-day self-quarantine, city health officials said.
“The first positive test notification was received on March 27, 2020; and the second was received on April 7, 2020,” Diana Figueroa, an administrative analyst for the city, said in an email. She later said a third case was confirmed on April 8.
‘WE WERE ALL SCARED’
The bakery, which makes baked goods for supermarkets, is operated by Vie De France Yamazaki, a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Yamazaki Baking Company. The $4 billion firm is the world’s largest bread-baking corporation, according to its website. The Vernon facility is located just outside of downtown Los Angeles and eight miles from Long Beach.
All four of the long-time workers we spoke to believe the company failed to take adequate steps to protect workers until it was too late. Two workers said employees were calling out sick with COVID-19-like symptoms by March 20, though they say it may have been even earlier than that.
As the days went on, more and more people began calling out sick, they said. It wasn’t until March 27—the same day an employee tested positive for coronavirus, according to the city—that the company posted a notice addressing the situation. We obtained a photo of the document.
“During the last few weeks we’ve had various employees who have called out sick with a variety of symptoms. As a precaution for the rest of the workforce, these employees have been required to remain away from work for 14 days. I’m pleased to inform you that as of today, we do not have confirmed coronavirus cases reported among the workforce,” the notice stated in Spanish.
It went on to list numerous preventative measures workers should take to protect themselves, such as social distancing when possible, and reporting symptoms to supervisors.
“We were all scared we would get sick. It’s all we talked about during our breaks,” one worker recalled.
The next day, supervisors told employees that the swing and graveyard shifts would be eliminated due to the shortage of staff, the workers said. Some of the furloughed employees even began refusing to cover morning shifts when asked to, for fear of catching the deadly virus.
“Some employees get called to come into work and they declined because they’re scared of getting infected,” one worker told us, adding this was especially true for older employees who have underlying health conditions that make them more susceptible to serious complications from the virus.
In a written statement issued to FORTHE Media on April 9, Vie de France Yamazaki Vice President David Conner said the company was following all Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines to ensure the safety of their employees.
“This includes: Prohibiting all visitors to the facility, increasing social distancing practices within the facility by staggering start and break times to limit the number of associates in common areas such as near the time clocks and in locker rooms, and creating a second break room so people are further spaced out while at the same time enforcing distance management in other areas where employees may congregate,” Conner said.
He added that the company increased the frequency of sanitation, especially on “common-touch surfaces” around the bakery, and has assembled a “dedicated COVID-19 response team that is monitoring the pandemic across its business daily.”
He did not specify in the statement when these measures were first put into practice and did not return an email requesting further comment.
Responding to the safety measures listed in Conner’s statement, one worker told us, “That’s what they should have done before this whole disaster happened.”
Meanwhile, Vernon’s Health and Environmental Control Department said representatives of Vie de France informed them that they had trained employees on the company’s communicable disease policy in early March. Based on self-reporting from Vie de France, the city determined that the company “adhered to applicable guidelines from various local and federal agencies.”
Nonetheless, all four of the employees we spoke to expressed apprehension and fear at the thought of returning to work because of the outbreak.
“They need to close (the bakery) down and they need to clean. I’m not gonna go to work like that, risking my life and my parents. They’re senior citizens,” said one worker who underwent a precautionary 14-day self-quarantine.
Although dozens have called out sick, it’s not known how many have been tested, making it nearly impossible to determine definitively just how widespread the outbreak among workers has become.
All of the workers we spoke to were unsure whether they would be compensated for missed work due to the virus. One worker told us they were only able to make rent because they received their tax refund. Since those interviews, Gov. Gavin Newsom expanded on the federal government’s paid sick leave policy to cover food workers at large companies.
While 81% of workers reported having some paid sick leave in California, just 14% had access to at least two weeks of paid sick leave, according to research by the Shift Project at the University of California.
WAS ENOUGH DONE?
One of the main grievances shared by the Vie de France workers we spoke to is that supervisors did not initially take employee symptoms seriously enough until documentation of a COVID-19 diagnosis was provided—even as tests were reportedly in short supply.
“Yes, they’re taking measures now; but before anyone tested positive, they weren’t doing anything different,” one worker said to us.
We asked the company about this, but they did not reply.
The workers at the Vie de France plant are represented by the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers, and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM). Their field representative, Jose Hernandez, said that during a meeting between the company and the union on April 8, the company had still not confirmed whether any employees had tested positive for coronavirus, and that company officials were still investigating.
“A couple of days ago I talked to the lady in HR and I was screaming at her based on the information I’m getting. I reacted, but she made me understand that it wasn’t confirmed yet,” said Hernandez on April 8. Asked whether any of the company’s employees had been hospitalized with the virus, he said, “I can’t confirm that.”
Multiple attempts to reach Hernandez or the union for further comment were unsuccessful.
The CDC’s contagion reduction guidelines for employers, last updated March 21, state that strict precautions should be taken at the first sign of an employee exhibiting symptoms, regardless of whether that individual has been tested.
Similarly, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health published guidance for employers on March 3 that states, “Do not require a healthcare provider’s note for employees or volunteers who are sick with acute respiratory illness to validate their illness” since “healthcare provider offices and medical facilities will be extremely busy and not able to provide such documentation in a timely way.”
Although Vernon works closely with, and oftentimes defers to, county health officials, it is one of only four cities in the state to have its own health department.
Vernon is home to about 100 people but 55,000 people come into the city each day to work at the roughly 1,800 businesses there. The motto on Vernon’s official seal reads “Exclusively Industrial.” It has been named the “Most Business Friendly City” in the state by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation.
The all-industrial city is crisscrossed by railroad tracks and has a skyline of smokestacks and water towers. It’s been described as “the nastiest place in California.” The city is a maze of meatpacking plants, food processing facilities, toxic chemical plants, and warehouses.
Critics of the city have called it a “cesspool of corruption” and have pushed for it to be dissolved. One of their concerns is that the handful of people who reside in Vernon—many of whom work for the city—have undue influence over those who spend their workday there.
Ralph Shaffer, a professor emeritus of history at Cal Poly Pomona, who has been one of the leading voices calling for the disincorporation of Vernon said in an email that the city is a “shelter for business” that exacerbates inequity in the region.
But at least one union representative who advocates for meat packers in Vernon thinks the city government has done an adequate job of staying on top of the coronavirus crisis.
Armando Espinoza, a representative with United Food and Commercial Workers International Union Local 770, said that the general manager of the Farmer John pork slaughterhouse in Vernon told him he received a call from the city’s health department earlier this week recommending that all employees wear face masks.
“It was to my surprise, because you know, (the city has) been so business friendly. It really shows you the magnitude of what this could be potentially bringing,” said Espinoza.
Because the county’s city-by-city coronavirus count reflects only the place of residence of a patient, it’s unsurprising that sparsely populated Vernon has logged zero confirmed COVID-19 cases as of Thursday. However, that does not mean Vernon or other industrialized cities like Irwindale and City of Industry, which also list no confirmed coronavirus cases, cannot become a hotbed for the disease. Infected workers could then spread the virus among their communities when they go home.
Like many of the neighboring food processing plants, Vie de France is considered critical infrastructure under the state’s stay-at-home order. These facilities are links in the modern food supply chain largely hidden from consumer view.
Espinoza said that the two Overhill Farms meat packing plants in Vernon, both located less than a mile from Vie de France, there have been a combined 12 employees who have tested positive for COVID-19 and over 100 employees under self-quarantine.
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Last week, Los Angeles County ordered all essential businesses to follow a “social distancing protocol.” In line with that, the Vernon Health Department’s “Resources for Essential Businesses” website was updated to include these new requirements.
But before then, and up until at least April 6, according to a website snapshot from the Wayback Machine, that same page did not list any guidance on what steps employers should take to protect their workforce. That’s over two weeks after the state’s safer-at-home order was issued, and ten days after the first confirmed COVID-19 case at the bakery.
Notably, the website mostly focused on how essential businesses can attain an “access letter” from the city to continue operating.
In contrast, Long Beach—one of the other four cities in the state to have its own health department—published guidelines for food facilities on March 4.
Even the Vernon Chamber of Commerce’s website posted some guidance from the U.S. Small Business Administration.
Asked if the city had provided any other direction to businesses on how to protect workers prior to the recent update of its website, Figueroa said the city has been “actively tracking” the development of the coronavirus since January. That same month, a link to the CDC’s website was posted to the city’s main COVID-19 page “as a reliable source of information for the Vernon community.”
“As the Coronavirus outbreak continued to rapidly evolve, the Health and Environmental Control (Department) sustained the dissemination of pertinent information on the Coronavirus at City Council meetings, via the Vernon Chamber of Commerce, and directly to businesses when communicating via phone or when conducting in-person inspections. The VHECD has remained aligned with the most up-to-date recommendations, directives, and guidelines offered by global, national, state, regional, and local officials and agencies.”
However, when we first asked Vernon’s health department about the outbreak at Vie de France on April 8, we were told officials were not aware of any suspected cases of coronavirus at the bakery. Health officials only followed up with the company after we alerted them.
‘SHOULDER-TO-SHOULDER’
As the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in LA county continues to tick up—the most recent numbers show 12,341 cases and 600 deaths—Vie de France workers are left questioning why their plant wasn’t closed down temporarily in light of the outbreak.
“They should close down the whole plant and sanitize it before calling employees back to work,” one worker said.
Other food manufacturing plants across the nation where large outbreaks have occurred have shut their doors in order to deep clean the facilities. A meat packing plant in Colorado was closed after dozens of employees caught the coronavirus. Slaughterhouses in Iowa and Pennsylvania where outbreaks flared up were also temporarily closed. When a pork processing plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota became a hotspot for the virus, with over 350 employees testing positive for coronavirus, the mayor stepped in and forced it to close.
Although the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has said there is no evidence of food or food packaging being associated with transmission of COVID-19, the virus has burned through the ranks of food processing workers because of the oftentimes crowded conditions they work in, says Espinoza.
“These people—not like grocery store workers or pharmacy workers—these members work side-to-side, they work shoulder-to-shoulder. So if somebody’s been infected and comes into work, they can spread it to hundreds of people in one day,” said Espinoza.
Vie de France bakery employees confirmed that workers stood in crowded production lines before any safety measures were put in place.
Espinoza says so far, he hasn’t seen the types of coronavirus explosions occurring in meat packing plants in the midwest and other parts of the country. He says the Local has only learned of 17 coronavirus infections among their 2,000 members. But he admits the potential is there.
“Social distancing inside the plant is a lot harder than outside in the break rooms or in the hallway punching in,” said Espinoza. “And people are very, very scared because they know that they’re unable to practice the social distancing that the state, county, and city is asking people to do. So every day these workers go to work and they’re terrified.”
UFCW had been urging lawmakers to take action to protect front line employees, and in part because of this prodding from unions, a countywide requirement for essential businesses to develop and post social distancing protocols for employees was issued last week. It went into effect on Wednesday. The order also requires employers to provide cloth face coverings to employees whose duties require close contact within 6 feet for 10 minutes or more with other employees or the public.
“This is trying to make sure that at essential businesses we’re being as mindful as possible about the needs to protect each other and particularly to protect the essential employees that go there every day so we can have the goods and services that are so necessary for our survival,” said Director of Los Angeles County Department of Public Health Barbara Ferrer during a briefing on Wednesday.
TESTING HARD TO COME BY FOR ESSENTIAL WORKERS
Requiring workers to show documentation of a COVID-19 diagnosis can prove to be difficult or, in some cases, even impossible for those in underserved communities who lack access to adequate healthcare. In other cases, because of the shortage in testing supplies, individuals showing low-grade symptoms may not qualify for testing.
One worker we spoke to described their unsuccessful journey to seek treatment and testing for what they suspect was COVID-19. Last month, they visited their doctor with COVID-19-like symptoms and were prescribed antibiotic injections and pills, which are not effective against viruses. The crushing headaches and chills did not go away.
“I was taking ibuprofen every six hours and any time I would stand up, I would feel nauseous,” they said.
When they notified a supervisor on March 22 of their worsening symptoms, which had grown to include chest pain, they were allowed to take a few days off and returned to their doctor. They were again prescribed antibiotics, this time a different type. Their symptoms persisted, but they returned to work anyway.
After learning they had been in contact with colleagues at the bakery who had tested positive for coronavirus, they once again visited their doctor. This time they were pointed to one of the numerous drive-up testing sites in the area because the test was not available at the doctor’s office.
However, the bakery employee became discouraged after learning they could only be swabbed for the virus at the Dodger Stadium testing site if they had a fever, which by then they did not. Instead they went into self-quarantine.
“You don’t know if (coronavirus) is what you had or if you had something else,” said Jose Oliva, the campaigns director for Health Environment Agriculture and Labor (HEAL) Food Alliance, which, among other things, advocates for better treatment of food workers.
“The whole process for getting tested, if you’re an essential worker, it just doesn’t exist.”
ESSENTIAL OR EXPENDABLE?
According to Human Rights Watch, the pandemic has further exposed the “disturbing levels of entrenched poverty and systemic inequality, and laid bare the country’s failure to protect the health of hard-working, everyday Americans.”
There are about 26,340 food processing workers in the LA area and they have an annual median wage of about $23,199, according to a 2017 PolicyLink report.
Although the function of food supply workers has been deemed essential during the coronavirus crisis, the workers themselves are being treated as expendable in some cases, whether it’s poultry workers in New York or farm workers in the California breadbasket.
“So in a lot of the cases that we’re seeing all over the country,” Oliva explained, “there’s very little information that (food supply) employers are providing to workers, especially around the CDC guidelines, and not to mention implementing those guidelines.”
And although the current crisis has brought the plights of food supply chain workers to the fore, he says the industry has a sordid history of exploitation, dating from the plantation economies in the South during the antebellum era to the more modern practice of importing migrant workers predominantly from Latin America.
“(The food industry) has sort of gone from one segment of vulnerable workers to another in order to continue to exploit cheap labor,” Oliva said.
In the Los Angeles area, workers in food processing plants are majority Latino, according to Espinoza.
Over half of all food processing workers in the state are immigrants, according to figures from the New American Economy, a bipartisan research and advocacy group.
And even before the current health risks, the jobs that feed the country were not very glamorous. One report put it this way: “Think of the back-breaking work of tomato pickers, the dangerous conditions at slaughterhouses and what many would consider the unpalatable environment of large livestock-feed operations. The wages are often low, benefits meager and contributions hidden from the public eye: How many social-media posts have you seen bursting with appreciation for the grain-export inspectors?”
Oliva says one of the biggest factors as to why there’s been such lax protections for workers in the industry amid the pandemic is the outsized power that massive corporations that control large swaths of the food supply chain have vis-a-vis workers, even for those who are represented by labor unions.
“I think the fact that having such large corporations controlling our food supply chain is highly problematic. And I think those cracks are beginning to show right now. We’re probably going to see a lot worse before we see better,” he said.
According to Espinoza, food processing businesses are having to calibrate their production output to meet the surge in demand brought on by the pandemic, while also factoring in safety measures and staff shortages due to outbreaks.
Of course, putting more distance between workers may mean a slower production line.
“That’s where the differences become more clear between worker safety and a company’s budget,” said Espinoza.
He says there has been a great deal of variance between how quick companies have adopted protective measures for the employees he represents.
“I personally contacted all the presidents of the companies and asked for these provisions to be respected a month ago. (You have) Farmer John, which is one of the most progressive and doing everything possible in the sun and on the other end of the spectrum Overhill Farms, which took nearly three weeks to react,” Espinoza said.
Food processing workers, Oliva says, should not have to weigh the risk of contracting a deadly virus each time they head to the plant.
“Essentially, it puts workers between a rock and a hard place,” he said. “Either you choose to come to work and feed your family or stay home and be safe. And that’s not really a choice. Those are really two sides of the same rotten coin.”
Meanwhile, the worker we spoke to who contracted COVID-19, along with their mother, have since recovered. As other Vie de France employees end their self-quarantine, they’ve been told their shifts will begin being reinstated next week. Still, there remains a looming fear that the virus could still be circulating among staff members.
“Of course I’m still scared,” one worker said about going back to the plant. “I’m not sure if there’s still sick people out there.”
kevin@forthe.org
@reporterkflores
