Two reports out this week show how badly the Trump administration is failing workers during the coronavirus pandemic. The AFL-CIO’s annual Death on the Job report looks at 9,051 complaints workers have sent the Occupational Safety and Health Administration expressing concern about safety on the job during the pandemic. OSHA has investigated just 198 of them, and 85 of 1,215 referrals. More than 2,000 of the complaints were from healthcare workers. More than 1,000 were from retail workers.
The National Employment Law Project, meanwhile, looked at workers' retaliation complaints related to COVID-19 whistleblowing. Of 1,744 complaints, NELP “found that only 348 complaints—just one in five—were docketed for investigation; and only 35 complaints—just two percent—were resolved in that period. Most of the complaints—54 percent—were dismissed or closed without investigation.”
OSHA is failing workers—just as Trump wants.
● How online learning companies are using the pandemic to take over the classroom.
● Amy Coney Barrett is as anti-worker as the rest of Trump's judges, Andrew Strom writes at On Labor:
While Barrett hasn’t written anything as egregious as Justice Gorsuch’s frozen trucker dissent, or Justice Kavanaugh’s killer whale dissent, her decision to sign on to the majority opinion narrowing the scope of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) in Kleber v. Care Fusion Corp., offers insight into where she stands when it comes to workplace protections.
● Trump's anti-worker labor board:
The Trump Board has dutifully pursued a corporate wish list of 10 items put out by the Chamber of Commerce in early 2017. Board members have already taken action on all 10. These priorities include delaying union elections, restricting the ability of employees to communicate about workplace issues, and enhancing the ability of employers to determine bargaining units.
● Understaffed and unsafe, Bay Area hospital workers strike, Bianca Cunningham writes at Labor Notes.
● A bunch of union organizers explain what's wrong with unions—really good stuff from people who have been on the ground in the fight.
● How unions can bridge the gap between climate and labor movements, from Mindy Isser at In These Times.
Unions do far more than allow workers to collectively bargain. They give people the ability to practice democracy in the workplace, they have the power to change our political system, and they challenge corporate profit and power — making them potential allies for environmental organizations that do the same. Groups like Greenpeace, the Sierra Club and 350.org often fight big corporations over their dangerous disposal of chemical waste, fossil fuel emissions, factory farming and more. Workers for these corporations are the ones who handle toxic waste, breathe dirty air and process chicken at poultry plants.
● This Amazon grocery runner has risked her job to fight for better safety measures—from Michelle Chen and Molly Crabapple.