Save Lives and Unionize!

In these hazardous times, workers are more vulnerable than ever. As many face difficult decisions between earning a paycheck and protecting their health, it is becoming increasingly imperative that there be — frankly, beyond — adequate health and safety protections in the workplace. The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has so far failed to protect people in their workplaces, so for many, it’s time to take things into their own hands.

The AFL-CIO is leading the charge by providing working Americans with a new web tool designed to raise awareness about what a safe workplace looks like. It is meant to empower workers to take the leap into forming a union to achieve the goal of a protected workplace, particularly in the COVID-19 era.

AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka decried the fact that so many are risking contracting the virus to put food on the table. “No one should be at risk of acquiring COVID-19 because they are working tirelessly to provide necessities for their family and our country,” he said. “Working people have organized to fight for safer working conditions for decades, forming unions to win protections and save lives. This web tool will help workers demand safer workplaces the federal OSHA fails to hold employers accountable. We will do all we can to help keep all workers safe, but federal OSHA needs to issue an enforceable, emergency workplace COVID-19 standard”

“No one should be at risk of acquiring COVID-19 because they are working tirelessly to provide necessities for their family and our country,”

The tool, dubbed “Am I Safe at Work”,  takes people through a short quiz designed to identify key issues that would put them at risk in the workplace. It then guides users to information on making the workplace safer, and how to go about contacting a union organizer, emphasizing that answering no even just one of the questions is reason enough to begin thinking about forming a union.

The pandemic has been particularly hard on women and people of color, groups that dominate many of the ‘essential’ professions. Nurses, transit workers and meat packers are particularly at risk, and the AFL-CIO is hoping that this tool will be part of the effort to save those lives. And if it inspires them to get organized in their workplaces — so much the better!