Monthly Archives: June 2020

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has issued two new enforcement policies to ensure employers are prioritizing the safety and health of their employees during the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak. These new policies can help locals protect our members and maintain an accurate count of COVID-19 cases at workplaces.

As businesses start to open across the country, OSHA has a new policy for inspecting workplaces and is increasing in-person inspections at all types of workplaces, including “non-critical” businesses. OSHA inspections will take place at workplaces in geographic areas where the spread of the virus has decreased significantly, as well as workplaces located in high risk areas. However, in the absence of an OSHA standard for COVID-19, it is unlikely OSHA will be able to cite companies for violations of any standard or regulation related to COVID-19 exposure.

OSHA also has a new policy for enforcing recordkeeping requirements for COVID-19 cases for all employers in all industries and is effective May 26, 2020. Employers in all UFCW represented industries are now required to record cases of COVID-19 that are deemed to be work-related, and meet the recordkeeping requirements contained in OSHA standard 29 CFR 1904.  Previously, only the health care industry had to record these cases.

The UFCW believes all cases of COVID-19 in the workplace should be presumed work-related; however, OSHA is exercising enforcement discretion to assess employers’ efforts in making work-related determinations. With that in mind, here is some guidance for locals:

• COVID-19 illnesses are likely work-related when several cases develop among workers who work closely together and there is no alternative explanation.
• An employee’s COVID-19 illness is likely work-related if it is contracted shortly after lengthy, close exposure to a customer or coworker who has a confirmed case of COVID-19 and there is no alternative explanation.
• An employee’s COVID-19 illness is likely work-related if his or her job duties include having frequent, close exposure to the general public in a locality with ongoing community transmission and there is no alternative explanation.
• An employee’s COVID-19 illness is likely not work-related if he or she is the only worker to contract COVID-19 in his or her vicinity and his or her job duties do not include having frequent contact with the general public, regardless of the rate of community spread.
• An employee’s COVID-19 illness is likely not work-related if he or she, outside the workplace, closely and frequently associates with someone (e.g., a family member, significant other, or close friend) who (1) has COVID-19; (2) is not a coworker, and (3) exposes the employee during the period in which the individual is likely infectious.

With this new guidance, locals are encouraged to:

• Begin requesting copies of OSHA 300 logs. The UFCW’s Occupational Safety and Health Office can provide you with a copy of the template letter used to request OSHA 300 logs (email rrobbins@ufcw.org).
• Question companies about their process and investigations regarding the work-relatedness of cases of COVID-19 that occur among employees and request information related to investigations into work-relatedness of COVID-19 cases.

Any questions relating to these new OSHA policies should be directed to Robyn Robbins, director of the Occupational Safety and Health Office, at rrobbins@ufcw.org.

On May 28, the UFCW, along with a group of American farmers and ranchers, called on meatpacking companies and elected officials to protect meatpacking workers and our food supply from the deadly COVID-19 virus.

The broad coalition, which includes Dakota Rural Action (DRA), Northern Plains Resource Council, Western Colorado Alliance, and the Western Organization of Resource Councils (WORC), has asked meatpacking companies, the Trump Administration, as well as state and local governments, to take the following steps that include but are not limited to: (1) increased worker testing at meatpacking plants, (2) priority access to PPE for all meatpacking workers, (3) halting line speed waivers, (4) mandating social distancing inside meatpacking plants, and (5) isolating workers with symptoms or who test positive for COVID-19.

“The best way to protect our food supply is to protect the people who work within it,” said UFCW International President Marc Perrone. “From frontline food processing workers to farmers and ranchers, we are all critical to keeping American families fed during this crisis. Enacting strong worker safety standards inside meatpacking plants will help people outside of them as well and ensure every link in our food supply chain is secure.”

“Safe food starts with safe workers,” said UFCW Local 304A member John Massalley, who works at Smithfield in Sioux Falls, S.D. “When meatpacking plants struggle to contain this virus, it’s not just the workers inside like me who are at risk, family farmers and ranchers are too. Regular testing is critical to stopping future outbreaks, keeping workers safe and protecting our food supply.”

The need to take these immediate safety steps reflects the significant threat still facing America’s meatpacking workers. According to the UFCW’s internal estimates, there have already been at least 44 meatpacking worker deaths due to COVID-19 and over 3,000 meatpacking workers have tested positive. Because of the continuing spread of the virus, at least 30 meatpacking plants have closed at some point since March 2020 – with closures impacting over 45,000 workers and contributing to a 40 percent reduction in pork slaughter capacity, as well as a 25 percent reduction in beef slaughter capacity.

“Too many workers are being sent back into meatpacking plants without adequate protections in place, reigniting more outbreaks in the plants and our communities,” said Nick Nemec, a farmer, cattle producer and DRA member from Holabird, S.D. “Leadership at all levels has shown a lack of support and concern for the workers and the farmers. A safe food system starts with the safety and respect of those doing the work to produce and process the food. Our current system fails because it treats farmers and workers with little respect and little regard for our safety.”

“We support the workers’ call for mandatory worker protections,” said Kathryn Bedell, a rancher and Western Colorado Alliance member from Fruita, Colo. “If they don’t get protective equipment and safe working conditions, the food system will remain vulnerable and we all lose – producer, workers and consumers. For too long, the government agencies have stepped back and allowed global meatpacking companies to voluntarily comply with antitrust laws. We know from firsthand experience that this is a failed approach because it has allowed the meatpacking cartels to manipulate prices paid to livestock producers to the detriment to our livelihoods, and to the detriment of our rural communities who depend on the cattle business.”

“This pandemic didn’t create the crisis for workers and producers in the meat industry, but it has made a horrific situation even worse,” said Steve Charter, a Shepherd, Mont., rancher and Northern Plains Resource Council board member. “The consequences of this rigged system are now threatening the lives of meatpacking workers at the same time they’re killing the livelihoods of family ranchers. If leaders want to address this crisis, they need to start with enforcing antitrust laws, instead of abusing emergency authority to force workers to endanger their health. We must use this opportunity to create decentralized, local and regional food systems that are better for producers, consumers, and workers. Now, more than ever, we need policies that help folks who wear boots to work each day instead of shining the shoes of executives in board rooms.”