Union Sues USDA for Swine Processing Rules

An international union and several of its local chapters have filed a lawsuit seeking to compel the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to change its final rule promulgated on October 1, 2019, that eliminates maximum processing speeds and permits processing plants to employ their own health and safety monitors. U. Food & Commercial Workers Union, Local No. 663 v. USDA, No. 19-2660 (D. Minn., filed October 7, 2019). “As thousands of commenters told USDA during the rulemaking process, the Rule will jeopardize the lives and safety of both consumers of pork products and workers like Plaintiffs’ members,” the complaint argues.

USDA erroneously dismissed such comments by arguing that it did not have authority to “regulate issues related to establishment worker safety,” the complaint asserts. “For decades, USDA has considered its actions’ impacts on worker safety,” the union argues. “USDA’s failure to consider the impacts of its actions on worker safety was arbitrary and capricious, as was its failure to acknowledge and explain its departure from past practice considering such impacts.”