âEssentialâ Workers Still Endangered by COVID-19
Biden and Congress must boost OSHA standards and enforcement to stifle the pandemic.
More than a year into a pandemic that has killed nearly half a million Americans, millions of workers still toil in dangerous infection-spreading conditions, in hospitals and clinics, nursing homes, factories, supermarkets, and fieldsâperilously providing Americaâs food and health care in hazardous conditions.
While there is no single source enumerating COVID-19 health effects on workers, there is ample reliable data showing that worker exposures are a significant part of the pandemicâs deadly toll.Â
Many of these workers are near the front of the vaccination queue, but this process could take months, and COVID-19 remains a serious workplace hazard.
Earlier this month, the United States House of Representatives Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis launched an investigation into the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on meatpacking workers.
Union election in Alabama: Which way forward for Amazon workers?
The 5,800 workers at the BHM1 Amazon fulfillment center in Bessemer, Alabama, will soon vote on whether to accept representation by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), an affiliate of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW). Mail-in voting will start February 8 and end March 29 with the tally expected the next day. On Friday, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) rejected a motion by Amazon to delay the vote.
Amazon workers protest unsafe working conditions in Staten Island, New York, on March 30, 2020 (Credit: AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
The International Amazon Workers Voice (IAWV) has been at the forefront of exposing the ruthlessness of the online retail and logistics giant, which is notorious for demanding inhuman levels of productivity, putting its workers at high risk of injury and keeping them under constant surveillance. Last year, Amazon doubled its annual profit to $21.3 billi