Colorado Law Talk | The Roles and Rights of Essential Food System Workers During COVID-19

The global spread of COVID-19 exposed many vulnerabilities in our food system. While some consumers experienced food shortages, others felt heightened levels of food insecurity. And yet, as federal, state and local programs were re-worked and legislation passed to keep our food supplies intact, less attention has focused on the role of the essential food system workers (the farmers and food processors, among others) who have kept us fed. In this Colorado Law Talk, Professor Alexia Brunet Marks combines stories of essential workers with necessary reforms, driven by her work on the Colorado COVID Food Systems Rapid Response Team. In short, at a time when states and local governments implemented various distancing measures, food system workers (farm and food processing, for example), were deemed 'essential' to critical infrastructure operations and allowed (and sometimes required) to continue working. Work was risky then - as facilities figured out how to adapt processes to protect workers - and continues to be risky today. After President Trump signed an executive order in April to designate meat processing plants as essential infrastructure, Colorado and other states have been simultaneously grappling with COVID-19 outbreaks at these processing facilities. Because a substantial portion of Colorado's agricultural sector is involved in the production and processing of beef, the plight of essential meat processing workers has emerged as a matter of particular urgency in Colorado during COVID. The Colorado COVID Food Systems Rapid Response Team developed a Policy Agenda to safeguard all Colorado food workers in their workplaces as they contribute their essential labor throughout our state?s food system. In her talk, Professor Alexia Brunet Marks will present the Policy Agenda, tying it into larger, national conversations on food law and policy.

Event Details

Speakers	Alexia Brunet Marks, Associate Professor of Law