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As COVID-19 Cases Rise in States That Rushed to Reopen, NELP Urges States to Protect All Workers and Prioritize Workers of Color

By Rebecca Dixon, National Employment Law Project The National Employment Law Project urges state and local governments to protect the health, safety, and economic stability of underpaid and unemployed workers in their response to the COVID-19 pandemic—both during the crisis and in the ensuing recovery. These efforts must be the first step toward long-term structural […]

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OSHA, Other Agencies Need to Step Up on COVID-19, Future Pandemics

By Thomas McGarity, Center for Progressive Reform Governments and industries are “reopening” the economy while COVID-19 continues to rage across the United States. At the same time, the lack of effective, enforceable workplace health and safety standards puts workers and the general public at heightened risk of contracting the deadly virus. In a new report from the […]

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Court Order Okays OSHA Inaction on COVID-19

By Katie Tracy and Brian Gumm, Center for Progressive Reform In a June 11 order, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals denied an AFL-CIO writ of mandamus asking the court to compel the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to do more to protect workers from infectious diseases, such as COVID-19. The order continues the dangerous […]

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COVID-19 Spreading to Food Processing Facilities Across the U.S.

By Jared Hayes and Braelyn Parkman, Environmental Working Group Although not yet as pervasive as outbreaks at meatpacking facilities, COVID-19 is on the rise at America’s food processing facilities. EWG’s search of news stories published from March 14 to June 8 found that almost 1,200 food processing workers at 60 plants have been infected by the […]

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Federal District Court Rebuffs Trump Labor Board for Shirking Rulemaking Requirements

By Michael C. Duff, Center for Progressive Reform For decades, commentators have complained about how long it can take for workers attempting to unionize to simply get an election in which workers make an up-or-down decision on whether to form a union. For many years, employers were able to raise hyper-formalistic legal arguments that took so long to resolve […]

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With Trump Executive Order, Are Meat and Poultry Plants a COVID-19 Ticking Time Bomb?

By Rebecca Boehm, Union of Concerned Scientists On April 28, President Trump issued an executive order directing slaughterhouses and meat and poultry processing plants to remain open as critical infrastructure. The order noted that these facilities should follow CDC guidelines to protect workers from COVID-19. However, the guidelines in the order were described as voluntary, and no enforcement mechanism […]

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How State and Local Governments Can Support Safe Workplaces and Protect Public Health During the Coronavirus Crisis

By David Madland, Center for American Progress Action Fund In recent weeks, scores of essential workers across the country—from meatpackers and warehouse workers to transit employees and grocery clerks—have gone on strike to demand safer working conditions and higher wages that reflect the hazards facing them during the coronavirus pandemic. With employers too often ignoring their pleas, […]

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Investigation: Counties With Meatpacking Plants Report Twice the National Average Rate of COVID-19 Infections

By Sarah Graddy, Soren Rundquist and Bill Walker, Environmental Working Group Counties with or near meatpacking plants have almost twice the rate of known COVID-19 infections as the national average, according to a geospatial analysis by the Environmental Working Group. Based on cases reported by Johns Hopkins University as of May 6, EWG’s analysis found that counties […]

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Put Workers First in COVID Response

By Jeremy Richardson, Union of Concerned Scientists As I often say to friends and colleagues, the issues we face as a society are complex and simply cannot be reduced to bumper sticker slogans. Sometimes, however, the reality is strikingly simply—and staring us right in the face. After lobbying by the Chamber of Commerce, the administration initially dragged […]

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Six Ways Nancy Beck Showed Us She Doesn’t Care About Us or Science

By Genna Reed, Union of Concerned Scientists As I balance working from home and caring for my toddler, I spend a lot of time staring at the scores of products in my home that the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is tasked with keeping safe. Cribs, highchairs, toys, arts and crafts, bike helmets—the list goes […]

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Work Conditions Make Farmworkers Uniquely Vulnerable to COVID-19

By Melanie Benesh and Jared Hayes, Environmental Working Group Depending on the season, an estimated 1 million to 2.7 million workers, mostly undocumented, toil on the nation’s farms. Without farmworkers, the American food system would collapse – and during the coronavirus pandemic, they are especially essential to ensuring that food arrives on grocery shelves. But farmworkers are especially at […]

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