Return to Transcripts main page
First Move with Julia Chatterley
One In Six U.S. Workers Now Asking For Government Help; Japan's Business Leaders Demanding A Game Plan; Researchers In Oxford Begin Testing A Vaccine. Aired 9-10a ET
Aired April 23, 2020 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[09:00:05]
JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN BUSINESS ANCHOR: Live from New York. I am Julia Chatterley, this is FIRST MOVE and here is your need to know.
Four point four million more. One in six U.S. workers now asking for government help.
Testing in Tokyo. Japan's business leaders demanding a game plan.
And human trial hopes. Researchers in Oxford begin testing a vaccine.
It's Thursday. Let's make a move.
Welcome once again to FIRST MOVE. Fantastic to have you with us for the next hour. There is lots to come on the show including the latest as you
heard there on U.K. vaccine research and we've also got some coping mechanisms for dealing with isolation.
I'll be bringing that all to you very shortly. But first, a snapshot. Sadly, on the economic cost of saving lives with the shutdowns. Here in the
United States, a further 4.4 million people filing for first time benefits just in the past week. That brings the total number since mid-March to over
26 million people.
I have to say, sadly, these numbers, I think, were expected and stocks premarket as you can see reflect that fact, too. Morgan Stanley believes
the tidal wave of benefit claims will ease, but we're still talking millions more people for weeks to come. We are talking one in six workers
in the United States at this moment.
Meanwhile, in Europe, a broad survey of economic activity also hit record lows, suggesting the Eurozone economy could be heading for a 7.5 percent
growth drop in this quarter. That, a stark assessment as E.U. leaders meet to discuss an action plan for the future. What does that look like? We'll
be discussing.
Asian stocks meanwhile finishing as you can see a little mixed overnight. Broadly higher though. Once again the data telling the story. South Korean
growth falling by some 1.4 percent in Q1, that's the sharpest fall since 2008.
Activity meanwhile in Japan's services sector also plunging to its lowest reading on record.
The key, of course, for all these nations is what and when does recovery look like? What support is still required from governments, from
communities, and from companies alike?
Let's get to the drivers. Christine Romans joins us now. Christine, the jobs, the fear gauge, I called, it earlier on CNN programming. It's the
fear gauge of the U.S. economy and the fear is that millions more will still be in this level of uncertainty going forward.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, one economist calling it a pandemic abyss, and it sucked in millions of
American workers and businesses. The economist, Chris Rupkey pointing out that in February, wages and salaries at all private employers in the United
States was $8 trillion.
There is a feeling that the PPP is PP-peanuts in some economists' view and it just can't cover all of these companies that are having to layoff the
workers because you've had to layoff -- you had to layoff the American economy essentially here to fight the pandemic.
So, just the scope of these numbers, unimaginable five or six weeks ago that we'd be talking about this. The question now is do these numbers
animate a very careful and scientific discussion about reopening the economy or do they cause governors and mayors and politicians to try to
open up too quickly because they are so afraid of these numbers?
CHATTERLEY: Yes, fuel to the fire, I think, ahead of the science here because you're facing loss of life, but you're also facing desperate impact
on lives as we see these numbers continuing to stack up every week, Christine. It's frightening.
And you rose the correct point here which is the PPP program, the lending program meant to save jobs, I think, quietly, you and I are also very
concerned that this money doesn't get through, it doesn't get through quickly enough to save the jobs that it was intended to save.
ROMANS: Yes, I mean, you look at the level -- I mean, there is probably going to politically have to be more stimulus. Although, you're hearing
from Republicans that they want to -- they want to look at how the money in the bailout has been spent and see what works before they spend a lot more
money.
But I go back to the $8 trillion figure from February. That is -- this is a $20 trillion economy. We look at these jobs over the last five or six
weeks, we're talking about almost 20 percent unemployment -- the unemployment rate of the U.S. right now.
This is -- we've lost more jobs than all of the Great Recession and the whole decade of jobs gains have been erased. So, you know, is it enough?
What the Fed is doing seems unlimited, Congress had three or four versions of bailouts now. Is it enough and is it targeted to the right people?
I mean, these numbers, the 26 million, all of these people have bills to pay. They are nervous. There is anxiety. What will be the knock-on effect
to the U.S. economy?
And I will just say one thing, I mean, you can't just flip a light switch and we go back here. It is more like a dial. Consumers and employees really
control that dial.
Because you don't want anybody to go back and have another wave of pandemic and then you're afraid to shop, you're afraid to go to work, you're afraid
to go out and then you really damage the economy long term.
[09:05:25]
CHATTERLEY: Yes. I mean, we've seen this from companies like Amazon where they are on the front lines. They've got workers trying to fulfill our
requests online and beyond food and goods and their workers are saying, at times, we're concerned about our protections.
Try doing that nationwide and, of course, globe-wide quite frankly, because we've got this going on all around the world and the global economy here is
in, I think, dire straits is the message.
Christine, you and I did the analysis right at the beginning and we said, if you shut an economy like the U.S. down for a quarter of the year, three
months, it's a quarter of that $22 trillion. We're talking double what Congress has agreed in terms of money just to fill the hole that's created,
and I think we're coming back to that once again.
ROMANS: Bailouts are always messy and there are always mistakes are made when they try to rush the money out the door. You know, I mean, the lessons
we learned from 2008-2009. But this is, I mean, this is an economy that is really, really struggling here and how you see that is in the people who
are struggling behind it. So, just kind of dangerous moment here.
CHATTERLEY: Yes. And the lack of backstops here, I think I look to the U.K. economy and promising to protect 80 percent of salaries where they can is
perhaps a more direct way of going about this.
ROMANS: More people are talking like that now, too.
CHATTERLEY: Challenging.
ROMANS: On both sides of the aisle are talking about it. Maybe they just should have paid the payrolls for 30 days, a national holiday, 30 days.
Everything stays the same. Pay the payrolls. No nonsense with stimulus money and arguing and Christmas trees and stimulus. Just protect the
payrolls.
CHATTERLEY: Be direct. Yes. Christine Romans, thank you so much for that.
To Europe now where E.U. leaders are discussing their joint response to the pandemic. They will sign off on the first step, the 500 billion euro
emergency package, but much more as we've just been discussing needed to fund the recovery and what that looks like.
And as always, the question is how to pay for it. Anna Stewart joins us now. Anna, I always felt during the financial crisis that more of Europe
was okay until it became about more money and then the challenge really begins. What does the plan for the future look like?
ANNA STEWART, CNN REPORTER: I think there's nothing like an economic crisis to really highlight the divisions within the E.U., the financial crisis as
you mentioned really we saw that.
The E.U. meeting today is to decide on the recovery fund for the entire bloc. You mentioned the Eurozone Finance Minister's meeting last week. They
agreed to sort of a half trillion euro's worth in a big package. A, we are expecting it to be maybe triple the size and, B, they didn't actually agree
on how to finance the crucial recovery fund part of it, and this has been hugely contentious.
We've spoken a lot about the corona bonds, the idea of neutralized debt that has caused division. Spain, the Southern European countries, France,
want to see this happen, the so-called corona bonds.
Germany, the more frugal nations, they do not agree with that approach. They don't want to be underwriting the debts of economies which are less
financially prudent they would say than themselves.
So, this brings into question this whole existential crisis really of the Eurozone and the E.U., how do they move forward? And when are we really
going to see some decisive decisions being made? Is it at this E.U. Summit? Probably not -- Julia.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, either we're in this together or we're not. We'll see. Anna Stewart, thank you so much for that.
To japan now where the number of coronavirus cases has jumped to nearly 12,000, that's according to John Hopkins University. About 300 people have
died. This comes as some business leaders including the head of Uniqlo, owner of Fast Retailing criticizes the government's lack of coronavirus
testing.
Will Ripley is live in Tokyo for us. Will, great to have you with us. The last time you and I talked about this it was a declaration of emergency
taking place in Japan, certainly in certain parts. You were saying people weren't abiding by this. What is the feel now? How are people reacting?
What are they thinking as we see these cases rise?
WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Julia. The state of emergency is now in effect for all of Japan, and yet in many parts of Japan
you wouldn't know it. People are still out leading their normal lives, even going into pachinko, gambling parlors which are smoky, close environments
and tend to favor an older crowd.
You have restaurants and bars still open, people who are packing parks. A lot of them not wearing masks. And people who are still taking public
transportation because they have to go to work, because even though large Japanese corporations like Nissan, Toyota and Honda are encouraging
employees to work from home, 80 percent of Japanese companies aren't set up for it.
So, a lot of people really don't have a choice, but to go into the office every day.
And in the last month, Julia, we've seen the number of cases confirmed increase sevenfold here in japan and yet, here in Tokyo, just two days ago
-- two or three days ago, they only tested 157 people in this entire city of 13.5 million.
[09:10:21]
CHATTERLEY: So, we're seeing, and I mentioned it just then, business leaders are going, hang on a second, what is the plan here? I think
everyone is watching what is going on elsewhere in the world and the battle over testing that is taking place. What is the plan, Will, from the
government?
RIPLEY: The problem is that the Japanese Constitution doesn't actually allow the government to force businesses to close. Their biggest recourse
is naming offending businesses and that is what is some local governments are doing now particularly in the case of those pachinko gambling parlors.
They are naming the businesses that are refusing to close.
It doesn't mean the state of emergency has a lot of teeth. It is just a request, and if businesses and civilians don't abide by that request, there
is not a whole lot the government can technically do.
At the same time, you have a sense of complacency because Japan has a relative low number of official cases.
They are trying to ramp up testing. We're starting to see things like drive-thru testing and walk-through testing, but it is still very hard to
get a test.
I spoke with a man today who tried to get a test for his sick children, Julia, and it took ten days. His kids were denied all together. They turned
out to be okay. He had to wait ten days to get a coronavirus test.
In the meantime, he was told that he was free to ride the subway, go to work, do everything normal, and he chose to self-isolate because he was
afraid he might infect other people. He did end up testing negative. He still questions the results of the test because you know they're not always
accurate.
So, it just goes to show there is confusion and not a lot of clear messaging from the government here in Japan.
CHATTERLEY: Keep us updated, Will. It frightens me. I feel like other nations, we've been here before, and we know what the result ends up being.
Will Ripley, stay safe for us, please? And for people there watching, stay safe.
Okay, England's Chief Medical Officer and Scotland's First Minister are warning social distancing measures will likely be in place in the U.K. at
least until the end of the year.
They say only a successful treatment or better yet, a vaccine could allow us to go back to normal.
Meanwhile, the University of Oxford has announced it is beginning human trials of a COVID-19 vaccine this Thursday. Clarissa Ward joins us from
London with the details on that.
Clarissa, I have to say, experts there are saying some degree of optimism about having some kind of vaccine at least available by the end of this
year. Match that with a lot of skepticism elsewhere around the world. What do we know?
CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, exactly, Julia. If you talk to the Oxford professors who are behind this study, they will
tell you with a certain degree of confidence that they believe they would have a vaccine ready potentially as early as September.
But if you talk to people who are studying this field very closely in public health and vaccinology, they will say that that is wildly
optimistic.
Everyone seems to share the broader consensus here, at least, that your average vaccine will take years, if not a decade or more to develop and the
reason for that is because usually any vaccine has to go through at least three waves of human trials.
So, you start on a small group. You see if it is successful. You go to a larger group. You might want to sort of modulate or change slightly the
dosage. You have to work out what level of antibodies you're trying to build up to fight the virus. You have to work out how long those antibodies
will continue to fight the virus.
You have to be sure, most importantly, that you wouldn't have a situation in which someone who has had the vaccine and then also becomes infected
gets sort of a double dose and sort of overdoses in a sense.
So, there's a lot of methodical research that needs to go into this, which is basically having everyone say, you know what? Hold off. It is so well
and good to say you think you'll have something ready by September. In reality it is probably likely 12 to 18 months.
That said, 70 coronavirus vaccines under development out there in the world, four of them in human trials or three of them, sorry, a fourth,
another British one from Imperial College, London, set to begin human trials in June.
So, there is a lot of activity out there, Julia. Everybody wants to get this vaccine, but it does take time.
CHATTERLEY: Yes. You raise a great point. There is a big difference between an experimental vaccine and being confident enough to get it out there, but
fingers crossed with all of this work going on around the world, we get somewhere quickly.
Clarissa Ward, thank you so much for that in London there.
All right. We are going to take a break here on FIRST MOVE, but coming up, a former Obama era Energy Secretary tells me clean power could help fuel
the economic recovery.
And later, we look at coronavirus and the food supply. How to keep production going while ensuring workers remain safe. That's coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:18:11]
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to FIRST MOVE, still looking like a higher open for U.S. stock markets this morning despite yet another devastating read on
U.S. jobless claims.
The number of people filing now for first time benefits rising by a further 4.4 million people last week. That is now -- what -- more than 26 million
people over the last five weeks.
Claims still at an alarmingly high levels, but they have leveled off in the past three weeks. If we are looking for silver linings, it is not really
cutting it quite frankly.
In corporate news, meanwhile, Swiss banking giant, Credit Suisse is beefing up its loan provisions by some $1 billion, a sign that it is bracing for a
wave of defaults. U.S. retailing giant, meanwhile, Gap, says it is running out of cash and the ability to access credit.
It is suspending more than $100 million in rent payments in the hope that it can renegotiate terms.
Meanwhile, in the oil markets, both Brent and U.S. crude are posting strong gains this morning. U.S. crude rising some 25 percent over the past two
sessions after May's expiring futures contracts fell deep into negative territory.
Those gains in oil also coming as the U.S. President and Iranian military leaders exchange verbal shots. John Defterios has more on this.
Wow, John. If anything can give the oil markets a little lift, it is the threat of a conflict of some degree even if it's only verbal in the Middle
East. What are we seeing? How important is this?
JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN BUSINESS EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR: Well, it's about -- yes, it's about the only thing that can lift this market, Julia. It is a
combination of gun boat and Twitter diplomacy.
First, you have the tweet by President Trump and then a barrage back in response from the Iranians -- the Mission to the United Nations for Iran,
and then the Foreign Minister, Javid Zarif. And as you noted here, the head of the Revolutionary Guard in Iran.
It's drowning out all of the noise that we've had about the glut as of late and a cynic would suggest, it is even helping the U.S. producers and the
Iranian producers a result of the price rise.
[09:20:17]
DEFTERIOS: If you take a look at those prices again, remember, Julia, we were talking with WTI at $10.00 a barrel and Brent at $15.00 a barrel.
We're looking at gains of eight percent to 20 percent on a single day.
And we have to remind our viewers that back in January, we had that spike up to $68.00 a barrel. That was after the killing of Qasem Soleimani of the
Revolutionary Guard by the U.S. Forces.
And any time you have tensions around the Strait of Hormuz and the super tankers that are running through the Strait handling about a fifth of the
world's supplies, it gets very edgy on prices, and that's what we're seeing today.
Now, let's say also, there is also a political dimension to this all because the hardliners after that killing have taken over the Parliament in
Iran and the language has gotten much tougher and you have kind of a frame work for clashing, Julia, and what I mean by that is they have an election
in November of course of Donald Trump. He has to show that he is tough.
We have elections for President in 2021, Hassan Rouhani cannot run again. You can hear the voices coming out of Iran now because of the COVID virus
as well, they want to kind of mark their territory in the Gulf and it puts the major producers of this region like Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Kuwait
in a very difficult squeeze between the United States and Tehran.
CHATTERLEY: Just another challenge in a very challenged sector. John Defterios, thank you so much for that. Great to have you with us.
Let's talk more about what happens particularly with jobs in this sector. We're joined by former U.S. Energy Secretary under President Obama, Ernest
Moniz. He argues in an op-ed for "The Hill" that clean energy in particular is the sector that can help the U.S. economy bounce back.
Sir, fantastic to have you on the show with us. I just want to start and begin by what John was talking about there in terms of the impact that
we're seeing particularly on some of the smaller U.S. oil and gas producers.
Do you believe that government support should be forthcoming? Particularly for some of the smaller businesses are unprofitable and some have very high
debt levels. Should they be bailed out in your mind?
ERNEST MONIZ, FORMER U.S. ENERGY SECRETARY: Well, first of all, I think it is very important to emphasize what you did emphasize, namely that the
sector was really having challenges, very high levels of indebtedness, very little cash flow even before the virus.
And now of course, the demand destruction with the virus has really precipitated these tremendously volatile prices. Now, I think there are
some things that the U.S. government is already doing, may not be the savior for the entire sector, but for example, the Department of Energy
right now is running an auction with free space in the Petroleum Reserve to help soak up barrels out of the market without being a cash transaction.
So, that is going on.
But if I may emphasize the theme in the op-ed, it was that the energy sector in its transition towards low carbon, we are still at the very early
stages of that, but in that transition, the data tell us that the sector is a big driver of jobs.
Job additions being roughly double at the pace of the economy as a whole, up until the virus struck. So, the argument is whether it's the oil sector
or others investing now in the clean energy sector can be a double win in the sense of getting us to where the puck is going to be with lower carbon
economy in the future, but also in the very near term using that as a very effective, highly leveraged job creator.
And we will need job creation, because in my view, it is extremely unlikely that, you know, every worker will just go back to the job that he or she
had. We are going to need new job creation as we come out of this virus economic hole.
CHATTERLEY: I couldn't agree more with you. Is the job creation that you're talking about in clean energy because you were very specific there, perhaps
at the cost of some of the legacy, the older businesses, the dirtier in terms of climate businesses that we see today and is the incentive there
when we come out of this in a weakened economic situation to push money and investment into cleaner energy or is the risk actually that we go in the
opposite direction?
MONIZ: Well, clearly, historically, when one has very low oil prices and therefore very low gasoline prices, of course that historically has led to
more passenger miles traveled and the like.
[09:25:10]
MONIZ: And I have to say, I think there is no reason to think that transportation demand will not come back, that is to make it positive, I
think demand will come back after the lockdown is ended and people are traveling again more.
But that doesn't change the fact that we are in the still relatively early stages of a secular change toward a low carbon economy.
So, in that context, with your question, Julia, I'd say first of all, there are across the board -- meaning in all of the sectors -- of big
opportunities for efficiency.
And let me give you an example of how that feeds into the job leverage. Right now, we could let's say with the next stimulus package for example
really pick up the pace dramatically on efficiency projects. And this is a big deal.
You know, in the Obama administration, just the standards for efficiency put in place by the Department of Energy to 2030 would cumulatively save
almost 2.5 billion tons of CO2 emissions and save consumers over half a trillion dollars in energy bills.
So, this is big leverage. What do you do?
We could for example use existing utility programs for energy efficiency to use them for residences, for business, small business, for public
buildings, and the latter two in particular, small business and public buildings are sectors where, you know, there are typically large parts of
the day where there aren't many people involved.
So, even in the midst of our concerns about the virus, you can imagine major opportunities for efficiency projects. It is more complicated in
residences where obviously people are living. But that is an example of the kind of program we could do.
Going to the oil sector that you singled out, here again, now, looking longer term, but we have pointed out in our analyses that there really is
an enormous opportunity right now. This is not futuristic -- to start building an industry built around carbon dioxide capture and sequestration
and the Congress has in a bipartisan way passed an important tax incentive for such projects that start before 2024, which is not that far away.
Well, if you think about it, the kinds of jobs you would have in managing large volumes of carbon dioxide putting them underground and the like is
very much the skill set of those in the oil industry right now. So you can see how it is not so much --
CHATTERLEY: It should be part of an infrastructure plan.
MONIZ: Correct. Exactly.
CHATTERLEY: We are feeling the benefits right now of cleaner air to the detriment of other things, of course, trying to fight this health crisis,
but we are seeing what could be if we just invested correctly.
I'm going to put you on the spot and end where we began because I completely agree with your analysis and I will tweet out your op-ed because
I think it was great.
MONIZ: Thank you.
CHATTERLEY: If you were Energy Secretary today, given the pressures that the economy faces, the millions of jobless claims that we're seeing, would
you be bailing out the shale industry?
MONIZ: Well, again, I think the demand is going to come back. So, I don't think that the virus is going to be a long-term hit on the demand side and
therefore, it is a little harder to understand what interventions would be other than the kinds of things I already mentioned like using the Petroleum
Reserve which has quite a bit of reserve capacity right now to do the kind of time swap that is in fact happening. So, that's there.
I think the bigger issue really is still the secular change in the energy economy and of course, the sorting out in the industry that was an issue
before the coronavirus with frankly the investors saying it is time to get cash flow as opposed to simply going for market share and I think a lot of
people have been stunned.
CHATTERLEY: That is such a good point.
MONIZ: By getting up to 13 million barrels a day.
CHATTERLEY: Yes. I couldn't agree more. So, we will reconvene on this conversation. But we should harness this opportunity as painful as it is at
this moment. Ernest Moniz there, founder of Energy Futures Initiative. Sir, we shall reconvene. Thank you.
MONIZ: Thank you.
CHATTERLEY: All right. Thank you. After the break, coronavirus and food supplies. We're live at a meat processing plant where some workers say more
could be done to protect them. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:33:22]
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to FIRST MOVE. U.S. stock markets are up and running this Thursday. As expected, we are higher some six-tenths of a
percent higher. Lots of important economic data out there though for investors to keep an eye on.
The number of people filing for first time jobless benefits rising by a further 4.4 million people in the last week in the United States.
Meanwhile, in the Eurozone, business activity plunging to its weakest level on record this past month, all of this course, as European leaders gather
to discuss their response.
In the U.K., too, manufacturing and services activity survey data falling to record lows this month, too. The economic costs mount up.
In the meantime, under mounting pressure, too, America's largest meat producer is closing plants after employees were struck down with
coronavirus.
Tyson Foods is shutting its largest pork plant in Iowa and also suspending operations at a similar facility in Indiana. It's adding to concerns about
the vulnerability of the U.S. food supply chain and the safety of those keeping it going.
At least 10 percent of the country's pork production is offline at this moment. According to its website Tyson produces around a fifth of the beef,
pork, and chicken in the United States. Gary Tuchman joins us now and he is outside that shuttered plant in Iowa.
Gary, great to have you on the show. This is a challenge for all those involved in the producing and the grocery industry. How on earth do you
protect your workers while protecting the country's food supply? It is a challenge.
[09:35:03]
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Julia, it is just incredibly nerve-racking for people who work in meat packing plants in many parts of the United
States right now. I can tell you here at the Tyson plant in Waterloo, Iowa, we have a situation where as we speak right now, 182 of the people who work
here tested positive for coronavirus.
The plant was shut down yesterday, but this is what is important to keep in mind. There are about 2,800 people who work here and most of them haven't
gotten tested yet. So, there is no question that number will go much higher than 182 and that is why people are so scared and so nervous.
The fact is for days and in some cases weeks, private citizens here in this area in Blackhawk County, which is the northeastern part of Iowa and people
in the public world like the mayor, the sheriff, state representative, state senators, were calling on Tyson, the owner of this plant, this pork
processing plant where they process about 20,000 hogs a day which is four percent of the U.S. pork production, they've been calling on Tyson and the
governor of this state to shut the place down temporarily because sicknesses were starting to occur.
Well, the governor made the decision not to order this plant closed. Tyson did not close the place, and more and more people were getting sick and
finally yesterday, Tyson said that we are closing our factory temporarily because of the combination of worker absenteeism, COVID-19 cases, and
community concerns.
The community concerns is an understatement because people have been screaming it from the roof tops for weeks. Once again, 182 people currently
have it.
And then there is another Tyson plant about 400 miles east of here in Logan's Port, Indiana. Tyson is also a pork processing plant. Tyson has
announced it will be completely temporarily closed beginning this Saturday because that plant has 146 positive cases.
Tyson will continue to pay the employees and will start tomorrow coronavirus testing for the employees, but we're going to keep a close eye
on that because you're going to have hundreds and hundreds of people getting tests and that number of people who have tested positive will
undoubtedly get higher -- Julia.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, I think you said it -- nerve-racking. Terrifying actually for the workers involved. Gary, thank you for bringing us up to date with
that story. Gary Tuchman there in Iowa.
Well, General Mills is an international food giant closely monitoring their own supply chains. It has a global presence in the market place with
operations as you can see in North and Latin America, Europe, Australia, and across Asia.
We're talking a hundred brands such as Cheerios, Hagen Das, and Pillsbury being sold in more than a hundred different companies.
The company holding supply chain meetings now every day. John Church is in charge of those chains and he joins us now. John, you were just, I'm sure
listening to that and understand the challenges here incredibly well whether it is your 40,000 workers that you have around the world, I
believe. How are you best protecting them, and just describe this challenge?
JOHN CHURCH, CHIEF SUPPLY CHAIN OFFICER, GENERAL MILLS: Thank you, Julia. Good morning. You know, I did have a chance to listen to the last
interview. Luckily, we've had a very different experience.
We've been able, first of all, as you noted, we have plants in China, so we were able to learn quite early on what the best practices were. We were
early adopters of social distancing in our manufacturing plants, changing not only where people worked in the factory, but also where they took
breaks allowing more space literally moving furniture, removing chairs so that we reminded employees to stay apart from one another.
We were early adopters of masks for employees. We're doing temperature screenings. The safety of our employees and the safety of our food have
always been our number one priority, but at a time like this, it is incredibly important. We have a mission to serve the communities that we
make food for and we take that very seriously.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, it is so important. What feedback have you had from your workers? Because to your point, you learned the lessons of China and we've
heard that from other big, multinational companies that they could map across. But for others, they're playing catch up.
CHURCH: Well, you know, our employees have been remarkably with us and I couldn't be prouder of the work they're doing.
As you can imagine with communities taking action to lock down the restaurants, close schools, close businesses, have people work remotely,
it's put a tremendous demand on at-home eating and less on away from home. That model has put a lot of pressure on our manufacturing plants.
We have plants literally around the world running near capacity. And our employees are with us. We're communicating very candidly. We're listening
to their concerns. We're trying to understand what we can do. We're using best practices from the C.D.C., W.H.O., and trying to learn from other
industries as well, and so far it has served us very well.
CHATTERLEY: You and I mentioned there that you are having supply chain meetings now on a daily basis and that's accelerated from the past. Where
are the areas regionally where you're perhaps most concerned? Because you have as you mentioned production facilities all over the world.
[09:40:10]
CHURCH: We do. We have not experienced any particular region because our best practices appear to be working, so it tends not to be a geography. The
issue is more unanticipated demand that is greatly exceeding our capacity.
CHATTERLEY: Such as?
CHURCH: And in China early on and we were some of the first plants to restart, we received demand signals that were two and three times our
capacity.
And some of our plants in the U.S., our soup businesses, really doing -- it is remarkably well and we are seeing a lot of those occasions at home turn
to soup, our Progresso soup brand as a terrific alternative for people and it's just keeping up with that demand that's been more challenging.
And the reason we're having daily meetings is, as you might imagine, there are breakdowns in things that are unanticipated all the time. The food
industry is remarkably stable. It tends to follow the population. People aren't tending to eat more calories. But as the demand shifts have been so
dramatic, we've had to really understand on a daily and sometimes hourly basis where our ingredients, how our manufacturing plants are, can we get
the product to our customers?
That's been an important focus for us and it has required us to be much more agile than at a traditional time.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, you make a great point that it is about consumer demand and changing consumer demand. Therefore, it gives you the supply issues
because you have to obviously meet that.
Talk to me about the money that you as a company have provided? And I know you're focusing on areas where you're worried about food security all
around the world again.
Just explain the money that you have donated and how specifically you're targeting and where.
CHURCH: So, for us, and there is a lot of ways to do good in the world, for us as a food company, it is clear where our best opportunity is and that's
ensuring food security.
The first thing we did is we donated $5 million to food banks around the world simply to keep their operations running. They're having trouble
getting volunteers in as you might imagine. They are having trouble accessing food.
Interestingly, as the demand for food from food banks goes up, the supply is in short supply.
Restaurants are a good source of food and they're closed. Retailers are selling everything they possibly could have, and so we're giving them --
we've really spread the money across the world to different food bank partners that we've had historically.
In the U.S., we've partnered with Feeding America and there are 200 food banks across the network, and in addition to the money we've provided them,
and as a company, we donated $40 million worth of food in the last year.
We are actually producing, we are making for donation. We are taking some of the demand shift that existed and it has freed up capacity on some of
the platforms we had that used to support restaurants and away from home eating.
We've repurposed those lines and really targeted making products that can serve the food shelf and so, we're making an additional $5 million worth of
product specifically for donation here in the United States that our teams can make that we're going to give away intentionally.
CHATTERLEY: It's fantastic. John, great to have you with us, and stay safe, sir. Thank you for what you and the company are doing. John Church, Chief
Supply Chain Officer at General Mills.
CHURCH: Thank you, Julia.
CHATTERLEY: Thank you.
CHURCH: Thank you.
CHATTERLEY: All right. Up next, he survived a reality TV show, then cancer, and spent hundreds of days in isolation. He'll Ethan Zohn will be here to
help us all with advice on how to survive lockdown. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:46:39]
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to FIRST MOVE. The U.K.'s top medical adviser has said social distancing could be in place until at least the end of this
year.
All around the world, people are facing the prospect of weeks, if not months in lockdown and isolation. We're joined by someone who has a lot of
experience of surviving under these kind of conditions.
Our next guest spent 260 days in isolation fighting a rare form of cancer. He actually fought that twice followed by years of social distancing
following his treatment.
Joining us now is Ethan Zohn. He is winner of the U.S. TV show "Survivor." And also is a motivational speaker and founder of health charity, Grassroot
Soccer.
Ethan, so great to have you on the show. Thank you so much for making time. Oh, boy are you a survivor. We were just showing images there of what you
look like when you were unwell and fighting cancer. Just describe what that kind of isolation is like and it is great to see you looking so well now.
ETHAN ZOHN, FOUNDER, GRASSROOT SOCCER: Thank you so much, and thank you for having me.
Yes, you know, after the type of cancer that I went through, part of the process is a bone marrow transplant and part of that is you are in an
isolated bubble for an extended period of time and then once you're released from the hospital, you have to live an isolated lifestyle for
about a hundred days and for me, years after that and then I had to go through that twice.
So, the experience living in isolation is something I'm comfortable with right now.
CHATTERLEY: What was that like just mentally? Because there will be people watching this and they are thinking, you know, I've been through this now
for four or five weeks and I'm literally going insane.
You were doing it day after day after day and you were unwell at the same time, too.
ZOHN: Yes, I feel that one of the greatest things that I was able to do is acceptance, and you know, the first step to any change you can't control is
acceptance.
Once I could accept the situation that I was in, I was able to plan and map out how I'd like to live the next phase of my life.
You know, living in those tight quarters in isolation, one of the best things that helped me in the middle of my crisis was leaning on the
community and not only leaning on the community, but using my crisis to help others out there.
And I really feel, focusing on the plight of other human beings helps you heal and the one interesting thing about cancer is when you go through
this, it is a very individual experience. No one knows what that is like unless you go through it yourself and it is different for each person.
The silver lining that I can see in the situation the world is facing right now is we are all going through the same exact thing at the same time, and
nothing creates comfort and confidence more than knowing you're not alone when facing a challenge in life.
So, for me, being vulnerable and having the courage to reach out and ask others for help was a huge thing for myself, as well as using the details
of my life, my story, to help share and maybe help others who are going through a similar situation at that time.
CHATTERLEY: It is such a great point. We've talked about this on the show before. It's physical distancing not social distancing because you need
your community, your friends, your family at this moment more than ever, even if you can't see them.
I wanted to talk about the future and what you've done actually to help others. But just on a daily basis, what kind of structure did you give
yourself during that time? Because I think that is something else people watching will be struggling with as well.
How do you feel that you fulfilled and did things on a daily basis when you're stuck at home?
ZOHN: I'm a big list guy. And so for me, I made a real structured format to my day. I would literally wake up and map out how I'd like to live my day
and then I would check them off each and every moment.
[09:50:27]
ZOHN: And during a day where you're feeling unproductive and maybe a little bit depressed and have some anxiety, it's a good way to control something
you can't control.
And by the end of the day I would look back and say, oh, I actually did X, Y, Z. You know, all of these things, so emotionally and mentally, it made
me feel a little more productive and good about myself going through a full day in isolation.
You know, that included workout goals, you know, exercise goals, work goals, creativity goals, so all of these things I would like to achieve
these mini goals throughout the day and by the end of the day, it was just a better feeling than if I was just sitting around on the couch like
stressing about what I could be doing or should be doing. Take action.
CHATTERLEY: Focus on something else and take action. Talking of taking action, talk about Grassroot Soccer because I know this is about using
football as I would call it, to mobilize at risk young people in developing countries as well, which is pretty incredible, too.
ZOHN: Thank you. You know, before my time playing the television show "Survivor," I played professional soccer in Zimbabwe and kind of witnessed
what was happening with HIV and AIDS and how it was just destroying this community that I was now a part of.
And thanks to my time on the show and winning a big prize and having a platform, I was able to meet up with some of my soccer buddies to create
Grassroot Soccer, and we are an adolescent health organization that is using the power of soccer to educate, inspire, and mobilize young people
and communities on making healthier choices in life.
We are currently operating in 60 countries and we have graduated 2.7 million kids from the program to date.
CHATTERLEY: That is incredible.
ZOHN: Thank you. I appreciate it.
CHATTERLEY: That is astonishing. Yes. Thank you for that. I should point out as well, in the United States you're actually on TV at the moment in
the latest series of "Survivor." Am I allowed to ask if you win? You're probably not allowed to tell me.
ZOHN: You are about to ask if I win, I can't tell you the answer.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, close the question.
ZOHN: However, yes, they asked back 20 of the most popular winners of all time to compete for not one, but $2 million. So, it is really exciting and
it is a little bit of a distraction from the reality of the situation we're all going through right now.
CHATTERLEY: Yes. Well, thank you for your advice and thank you for your efforts to give back as well. That's a lot of children helped.
Ethan Zohn, the "Survivor" winner, motivational speaker, and "Edge of Extinction" contestant. Thank you very much and stay safe, and as I say,
great to see you looking so well.
All right, coming up on FIRST MOVE, the common sound around the world, applause for our health workers. After the break another group of health
workers get a pretty special send-off. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:55:19]
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back. I leave you in the show with a moment captured here in New York. It is a touching tribute to healthcare workers from those
also used to responding to crises.
Watch this.
[VIDEO CLIP PLAYS]
CHATTERLEY: This is New York Police Officers applauding medical workers who came from other places around the country, simply to help out New York
City.
Many of these people, these heroes have been here for weeks. Some today were just starting their final shifts. So, the NYPD gave them a memorable
send-off thanking them for their work. And we thank them, too. And, of course, our police officers and our healthcare heroes all around the world
keeping us safe.
That's it for the show. Zain Asher will be with you tomorrow. I'll be back with you on Monday. So, just so you know. Stay safe, stay well, and I'll
see you very soon.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:00:00]
END
