To honor Labor Day, protect workers from COVID
The author is president of the North Carolina AFL-CIO:
More than 130 years ago, Peter McGuire, co-founder of the American Federation of Labor, proposed Labor Day: a day to celebrate the hardworking Americans who “have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold.” This Labor Day, the COVID-19 pandemic has made plain that after all these years, the workers who built this nation — in all its grandeur, as McGuire put it — are still fighting for the treatment they deserve from our leaders.
Our workforce has always been the heartbeat of our country, but the current pandemic has reminded us of the amazing power of American innovation. When we needed ventilators, union auto workers stepped up. When we needed masks, union textile workers rose to the challenge. In North Carolina, workers across industries made sure that families had food on the table, hospital workers had personal protective equipment, and patients had medical supplies. Their sacrifice is what kept us going, but it wasn’t without risk.
Since this pandemic began, there have been dozens of COVID-19 outbreaks across North Carolina at essential businesses like warehouses, factories, supermarkets, and home stores. There’s been a spike in workplace safety complaints, and 80 percent of recent complaints have been related to COVID-19. Still, President Trump has failed to step up for us.
Every day, from Murphy to Manteo, people put their lives on the line to keep North Carolina running. Their jobs often look completely different than they did just a few months ago. Despite these new challenges and new risks, Trump has refused to order the necessary changes to protect workers from coronavirus. That’s unsurprising, given that he never actually appointed anyone to head up OSHA, the agency charged with maintaining safe workplaces. He also left OSHA out of his COVID-19 Task Force, showing just how little he cares about the health and safety of working families during this deadly pandemic.
When Rep. Alma Adams asked Trump’s acting head of OSHA in May if COVID “presents a grave danger to workers,” she refused to respond. So, let me reply for her: the answer is yes.
Without a champion in the White House, everyday people are left to fend for themselves against dangerous and unsafe practices at work. Employers are not required to let their employees know about positive COVID-19 cases in the workplace, and if employees observe their employers violating social distancing guidelines, they are told to call local law enforcement. Telling vulnerable workers to call the cops on their boss is absurd and unacceptable.
Is this how we celebrate Labor Day? Is this how Trump honors our essential workers?
Instead of enforcing an Emergency Temporary Standard to give employers and frontline employees specific, actionable guidance on what to do to reduce the spread of COVID, Trump and his Department of Labor are abandoning their responsibility to keep Americans safe during the COVID-19 pandemic. More than just ignoring the plight of workers, they are rolling back critical protections, particularly in meatpacking—an industry with numerous fatal coronavirus outbreaks in North Carolina. That’s not the leadership North Carolina workers deserve.
This weekend’s holiday should be a time for all of North Carolina’s workers to spend time with their family and be celebrated for their contributions to our nation. Instead, many are worrying that they could be putting their families at risk by answering the call of duty.
I hope President Trump takes this as an opportunity to step up for workers the way that workers have stepped up for the country - by providing true standards for on-the-job safety. That’s the best way that I can think of to celebrate this Labor Day.