In a sign of pushback against food workers being deemed “essential,” workers at a Perdue Farms chicken processing plant in Kathleen, Ga., walked off the job to protest an allegedly unsanitary environment and other conditions.

about 50 workers from the Perdue Perry Cook Plant staged a walkout the morning of March 23. Eventually, deputies from the Houston County Sheriff’s Department arrived on the scene, surrounded the protesters and forced them to disperse.

Before that happened, several of the workers talked with a local television station, alleging that bathrooms were dirty and food from the previous shift was on the floor. Kendaliyn Granville, who apparently led the walkout, said she and other workers were afraid of getting COVID-19.

“All we’re asking now is just to sanitize the building. Sanitize the building. Everybody that’s been exposed to it, they need to go home. These folks are still on the floor,” Granville said, according to the local CBS TV station.

Perdue said in a statement that it is making every effort to keep its facilities sanitary and safeguard its employees, including “increased cleaning protocols in all of our offices and facilities, not only for sanitation but also in common areas, cafeterias, and locker rooms.”