By Matthew Freeman, Center for Progressive Reform In the latest episode of CPR Board President Rob Verchick’s Connect the Dots podcast, he and CPR Member Scholars Michael Duff and Thomas McGarity explore worker safety issues in the era of the coronavirus. McGarity begins the conversation with the story of Annie Grant, a 15-year veteran of the packing line at […]
By Genna Reed, Union of Concerned Scientists As the U.S. government responds to the COVID-19 crisis, it is imperative that frontline communities and essential workers are not saddled with the cost of hastily made decisions. On March 25, EPA announced that efforts were underway to increase sterilization capacity for medical equipment at several facilities using the known […]
By Celine McNicholas and Margaret Poydock, Economic Policy Institute In response to the coronavirus pandemic, Congress has now passed four separate relief and recovery measures allocating trillions of dollars in aid, but none have provided meaningful protections to working people. Workers continue to be required to work without protective gear. Sick workers continue to lack access to paid sick […]
By Rebecca Jones, Project on Government Oversight As the world contends with the coronavirus pandemic, decision-makers cannot afford to kick objective science to the sidelines. Yet on April 21 the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) demoted Rick Bright, a career expert on vaccine development and a doctor of immunology, from his two positions as […]
By Valerie Baron, Natural Resources Defense Council On April 28, Workers’ Memorial Day, at the reported urging of Tyson Foods, President Trump invoked the Defense Production Act (DPA) with the stated goal of keeping meat processing (slaughterhouses) open through the COVID-19 crisis. In doing so, the President is attempting to trample over state decisions intended to improve […]
By Dr. Steve Suppan, Institute for Agriculture & Trade Policy “It is impossible to keep our grocery stores stocked if our plants are not running,” said Smithfield Chief Executive Officer, Kenneth Sullivan when he announced the closing of its Sioux Falls, South Dakota slaughterhouse due to a COVID-19 outbreak among more than 200 Smithfield workers. Sullivan, […]
By Elliot Mincberg, People For the American Way Trump Sixth Circuit judge Chad Readler dissented from a decision upholding penalties by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against a company that improperly fired several employees and committed unfair labor practices. The March 2020 case is Ozburn-Hessey Logistics LLC v. NLRB. Workers at Ohio’s Ozburn-Hessey Logistics (OHL), […]
By Pablo Ros, AFSCME Roxie Nelson remembers her father, Ed Nelson, as a caring and passionate man who often put the needs of others before his own. “When I was around him his phone was always busy, and he would take calls from people all the time,” she recalls. “He was always working to help […]
By Katie Tracy, Center for Progressive Reform Tomorrow, April 28, is Workers’ Memorial Day, a day the labor movement established to mourn workers killed on the job and to renew the fight for the living. This year, as the coronavirus pandemic grinds on, taking its toll on workers and their families, we’re reminded more than […]
By Tom Conway, United Steelworkers Thousands of workers across America begged the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to investigate when their employers failed to take steps to protect them from COVID-19. They reported a lack of face masks, gloves, soap and hand sanitizer. They warned of having to share desks and stand right next to one […]
By Celine McNicholas and Margaret Poydock, Economic Policy Institute Using the COVID-19 pandemic as cover, the Trump administration is reportedly preparing to take executive action to repeal and suspend federal regulations. This should not be a surprise—one of Trump’s first actions after taking office was to issue an executive order requiring federal agencies to identify at least two […]
By Scott Faber and Jared Hayes, Environmental Working Group The Trump administration’s plan to spend billions to address the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on agriculture may help industrial-scale produce farms but does little to assist farmworkers threatened by COVID-19, a new EWG analysis shows. Last week, the Department of Agriculture announced a $19 billion COVID-19 relief […]