A group of fish plant workers, in a second letter sent to over 30 companies today, said workers are being denied sick and parental leave and not receiving enough masks.
Fish plant worker Mirna Pacaja is an outspoken member of Pescando Justicia, an advocacy group for seafood workers. She says her employer, Atlantic Capes Fisheries in Fall River, provides workers with two masks a week. Pacaja said masks get wet with sweat and smell of fish.
“We are the ones who are there every day,” Pacaja said in Spanish. “And I believe that it is not possible that the company cannot give a mask every day.”
An industry spokesperson for Atlantic Capes told The Public’s Radio the claim isn’t true and that there are no mask limits.
Fish plant worker Ruth Castro is a member of Pescando Justicia and said facilities lack proper ventilation and COVID-19 training.
“We provide the production,” Castro said in Spanish. “The companies have to be grateful because COVID-19 is not something to take lightly, it is a disease that has seized the whole world, and they have to take action and take care of the employees.”
Since June, the New Bedford Board of Health has received reports of positive COVID-19 cases from five fish processing facilities and three facilities have been fined for not following COVID-19 protocols.
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Nadine Sebai is the South Coast Bureau Reporter for The Public’s Radio. She can be reached at nsebai@ripr.org.
