Back to the Jungle
The workers at Fukushima were heroic actors
As were Chernobyl miners digging under the stricken reactor
In the midst of the Corona virus scourge
Meat processing plants emerge
As centers of explosive virus spread
Leaving scores of meat packers stone cold dead.
And as you can appreciate
Sources for community dread.
And while the president has obstinately refused
The Defense Production Act to appropriately use
To assure testing and the availability of workers’ PPE
The lack of which is there for all to see
But by using the act and declaring meatpacking
Where OSHA regulations are woefully lacking
He prevents governors from shutting plants down
Allowing them the workers to abuse
Thus enabling them workers rights to egregiously refuse
Forcing them to make a devils choice
And lose their rightful voice
They must work on lines at great peril
Under conditions far from sterile
Or by refusing see unemployment benefits slashed
And their families devoid of desperately needed cash
So like atomic workers they are sacrificed
And we have regressed a hundred years
Returning to a time of many fears
Described in many a Jungle’s lurid page
Which led to reforms and a better age
And workers achieved a win
But now we have to start all over again
I would emphasize it should be eminently clear
That profits over people is what we see here.
Howard P. Charman, MD 5-1-2020