Posts Categorized: Health & Safety

UFCW members made their voices heard at the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Workers’ Voice Summit in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 27 to 29. The three-day summit, which was hosted by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), in collaboration with other agencies, provided an opportunity for workers across the country to raise workplace concerns with OSHA and other DOL officials.

Officials from DOL’s Wage and Hour Division, Office of the Solicitor, Women’s Bureau, Bureau of International Labor Affairs, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Policy, and Office of Public Engagement also joined the event.

At the summit, UFCW Local 400 stewards and Tyson Foods employees Benita Jefferson and Mary Vines-Smith raised concerns about OSHA workplace visits and the need for sick leave.

“Our maintenance people are being made to work seven days a week for 12 hours a day and they can’t even get a day off,” said Jefferson. “They’re tired and overworked. If they call in sick, they’re getting points for taking a sick day. It’s just not right… something has to be done.”

“There was an occasion when OSHA came into the facility and did not notify me as the chief steward that they were in the plant,” said Vines-Smith. “I’ve been trained to know that they are supposed to involve and notify the union when they are doing an inspection or accident investigation. There needs to be another summit like this in every state to address the issues of workers.”

“It’s so vitally important that UFCW members participate in these types of events because there are so many untold stories that OSHA needs to hear,” said Roy McAllister, the interim director of the UFCW Occupational Safety and Health Office. “Many of the experiences shared during the summit were heart- wrenching to say the least, because it’s unfathomable that workers are still experiencing the atrocities in 2022 that we thought the labor movement had eradicated so many years ago. There’s so much more work to be done.”

“The Department of Labor is going out of its way to listen to workers and unions these days,” said International Vice President and Director of the Legislative and Political Action Department Ademola Oyefeso. “This conference and all the ‘Know Your Rights’ materials on Worker.gov are just the latest example of Secretary Walsh and President Biden leading the most pro-worker administration in memory.”

On August  3, the UFCW, in partnership with the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC), released the results of a year-long study on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on UFCW essential members.

This study is the largest longitudinal survey of essential workers and union members during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nearly 20,000 UFCW essential workers across all 50 states in nearly every industry represented by our union participated in the survey.

Among the key findings of the year-long study of essential workers were:

• UFCW members who reported having COVID infections before May 2021 were twice as likely to be reinfected in the past year.
• Of those UFCW members who contracted COVID, 59 percent said that they believed it was likely they contracted the virus in their workplace.
• Six percent of respondents that contracted COVID needed to be hospitalized, which is a significantly higher rate than the nationwide 2 percent rate of hospitalization.
• Four percent of workers reported being unable to return to work after contracting COVID.
• In May of 2022, half of respondents reported that their lives were still deeply impacted by COVID.

“This UNMC study makes clear that COVID-19 has – and continues to have – a serious and significant impact on America’s essential workers,” said UFCW International President Marc Perrone. “The UFCW is calling on Congress, the Biden Administration, and states and localities to take bolder steps and policy actions to better address the impact of the pandemic, and to help protect workers from future pandemics. These essential workers paid a hefty price for continuing to do their jobs, which kept food on American families’ tables and our economy moving throughout the pandemic. They deserve immediate action as they continue to confront ongoing risk and the nation’s recognition for their service.”

“The unique partnership with UFCW has recorded the full scope of the markedly increased risk of COVID infections among union essential workers,” said Ali S. Khan MD, dean of the College of Public Health, UNMC. “Policies to protect these essential workers are critical to weathering the current surge of COVID cases nationwide and being ready for the next pandemic.”

In light of this groundbreaking study, the UFCW is calling for the following immediate actions to protect the health and safety of our essential workers:

• Ensure essential workers in every industry have access to dedicated paid sick leave that protects their employment status when dealing with infection;
• Immediately move on legislation, like the America’s Meatpacking Workers Act, to protect some of the most vulnerable workers in the hardest-hit industries;
• Implement a nationwide Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) infectious disease standard, and hold employers accountable who do not take steps to protect essential workers during pandemics.

More information on the survey can be found on the ufcw.org website here and a social media toolkit for Locals to promote the survey and key findings can be found here.