October, 08 2020, 12:00am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Jean Su, Center for Biological Diversity, (415) 770-3187, jsu@biologicaldiversity.org
Michael Leon Guerrero, Labor Network for Sustainability, (505) 263-4982, mlg@labor4sustainability.org
Carolyn Bobb, AFL-CIO, (240) 271-7069, cbobb@aflcio.org
Sarah Hager, American Federation of Teachers, (202) 393-5684, shager@aft.org
Jess Kamm Broomell, United Steelworkers, (412) 562-2444, jkamm@usw.org
Carter Wright, Service Employees International Union, (202) 531-9386, carter.wright@seiu.org
Taylor Garland, Association of Flight Attendants, (202) 202-297-9196, tgarland@afacwa.org
David Roscow, Amalgamated Transit Union, (202) 487-4990, droscow@atu.org
Denise Romano, Transport Workers Union, (202) 719-3837, dromano@twu.org
Amy Fetherolf, Communications Workers of America, (202) 657-1931, afetherolf@cwa-union.org
Abraham White, United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, (202) 341-1899, awhite@ufcw.org
Lawsuit Targets Feds' Failure to Protect Frontline Workers From COVID-19
Labor, environmental groups demand action to prevent more deaths, illness as virus spreads within White House.
WASHINGTON
Labor unions representing healthcare workers, teachers, transit operators and millions of other frontline workers joined with environmental groups today to sue the federal government over its failure to provide adequate reusable respirators, N95 masks, gloves and other personal protective equipment to these essential workers.
Today's lawsuit comes as COVID-19 has engulfed the White House, with more than a dozen high-level aides, additional White House staff and frontline workers on Capitol Hill testing positive for the virus. And it follows the announcement Tuesday that negotiations on a coronavirus relief bill would be delayed until after November 3. The bill includes provisions for adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) and safety standards to protect essential workers against the deadly disease.
"The AFL-CIO is joining this lawsuit to force the Trump administration to do what it should have done months ago -- protect American workers by dramatically increasing the supply of the PPE they need to work safely during this pandemic," said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. "The failure to do so is immoral and inexcusable, and we demand action now."
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., says Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf should act immediately to ensure the manufacture and distribution of PPE. The agencies failed to respond to an August petition from the groups that demanded emergency action, violating federal law. The agencies have refused to properly manage PPE production and distribution, leaving states and industry to compete and frontline workers short of supplies.
"Nurses will do whatever it takes to care for patients who are fighting this virus," said Karen Ballentyne, a registered nurse at West Hills Hospital and Medical Center in Los Angeles and a member of SEIU Local 121RN. "But we need the tools it takes to do our jobs. It's disgraceful that we still can't count on an adequate, reliable supply of PPE."
"It's difficult for healthcare workers to get supplies on a daily basis because employers are conserving what they have, and having to ask or find PPE on our own is a horrible practice," said Denise Abbott, an emergency room nurse in Buffalo, N.Y., and a member of Communications Workers of America Local 1168. "Staff still have to reuse masks for the entire day unless they're dirty, damp or damaged. PPE must be at the ready and used properly if we're ever going to see an end to this crisis. With the flu season fast approaching, healthcare workers are again facing great risk from this administration's failure to act."
Healthcare workers, teachers, transit operators and other essential workers are reusing PPE or buying their own as schools open and states and cities across the country relax COVID-related restrictions. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., says Azar and Wolf should immediately use the Defense Production Act to ensure adequate PPE supply for frontline workers.
"We cannot allow this dangerous shortage of PPE to become the new normal," said United Steelworkers International President Tom Conway. "Too many workers are still forced to use improper or ill-fitting PPE because they can't get what they need or to reuse disposable protective equipment because of supply issues. Yet workers looking to this administration for help have been met by nothing but political posturing and empty promises."
Today's lawsuit comes as the United States reaches nearly 210,000 deaths and 7.5 million infections from the coronavirus and prepares for flu season. Plaintiffs include the nation's largest labor unions -- representing essential workers in healthcare, education, transportation and service sectors -- including the AFL-CIO, United Steelworkers, Service Employees International Union, American Federation of Teachers and Amalgamated Transit Union. The groups collectively represent more than 15 million workers in frontline industries that have suffered thousands of deaths and hundreds of thousands of illnesses from COVID-19.
"The federal government is abandoning essential workers and treating them like they're disposable," said Jean Su, director of the Center for Biological Diversity's energy justice program. "These are teachers and nurses and bus drivers who have made sure our country survives during this crisis. We stand in solidarity with them and will do everything possible to prevent this tragic, preventable loss of life. They're being exploited, not unlike the abuse that corporations and this government inflict on the environment."
The number of coronavirus infections has ballooned by 50% -- or 2.5 million cases -- since the groups filed their petition in August. Public health experts anticipate that COVID-19 cases will surge this fall and winter as people spend more time indoors, where the virus spreads more easily.
"Our union has filed OSHA complaints, we've signed petitions, we've demonstrated and we've become PPE supply clerks for a reason: Our members are still getting sick, our colleagues and loved ones are still dying, and our government has failed to protect them," said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers. "We've fought to get PPE for our nurses on the frontline and for our educators, who are often expected to provide PPE out of their own pockets. As the pandemic continues to ravage our communities, with no competent guidance or support from the administration, we must pursue every venue to ensure communities and our members are safe."
In March, the president issued a series of executive orders declaring a national emergency due to COVID-19 and delegating broad powers to Azar and Wolf under the Defense Production Act. The act is designed to ensure the provision of essential materials and goods during public health emergencies. The secretaries have failed to fully utilize their authority, leading to a shortage of PPE.
"UFCW members have been on the frontlines of COVID-19 in grocery stores, meatpacking plants and other essential businesses helping to ensure our families have the food they need," said Marc Perrone, president of United Food and Commercial Workers International. "UFCW has secured a wide range of PPE for these workers throughout the pandemic, but a PPE shortage still exists for millions of workers who do not have a union standing with them. The federal government's failure to close the PPE gap for workers is inexcusable and UFCW is joining with labor unions across the country today to demand action."
Steady growth in COVID-19 cases nationwide has led to a shortage of lifesaving equipment -- including gloves, masks, gowns and sterilizing supplies -- for millions of essential workers. People of color are more likely to be part of the essential workforce and at higher risk of death from the coronavirus.
"The numbers don't lie," said Labor Network for Sustainability Executive Director Michael Leon Guerrero. "Seven months after the shutdown, our partners in the labor movement are still reporting thousands of COVID cases among their members and hundreds of fatalities. Invoking the DPA is a human rights issue."
"As the pandemic rages on in North America, more people are riding public transit and ATU members continue to bravely report for work often with little or no protection to provide critical transportation to keep communities moving," said Amalgamated Transit Union International President John Costa. "The shortage of PPE has had a devastating impact on the ATU, as we have lost 89 brothers and sisters while thousands have been infected with the coronavirus. The ATU calls for the activation of the Defense Production Act to ensure the needed PPE is produced for transit and other essential workers to keep them safe on the job."
"Our members have put their lives on the line every single day during this pandemic, and yet the TWU has had to fight tooth and nail to get the bare minimum in PPE that we need to feel safe on the job," said John Samuelson, president of the Transport Workers Union. "This country doesn't stand a chance at an effective recovery from this pandemic if our elected leaders don't do everything within their power to protect frontline workers."
"People are dying, and more people are going to die because the Trump administration has totally failed to protect Americans who have been on the job throughout the pandemic keeping our country running," said Communications Workers of America President Chris Shelton. "Workers are terrified about the possibility of having to face a potential third surge of this COVID-19 virus during flu season without having access to adequate protective equipment. Trump and his cronies need to focus on the real problems people are facing and use every tactic within their power to get PPE produced and distributed to workers."
At the Center for Biological Diversity, we believe that the welfare of human beings is deeply linked to nature — to the existence in our world of a vast diversity of wild animals and plants. Because diversity has intrinsic value, and because its loss impoverishes society, we work to secure a future for all species, great and small, hovering on the brink of extinction. We do so through science, law and creative media, with a focus on protecting the lands, waters and climate that species need to survive.
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UN Warns of 'Catastrophic' Imminent Escalation in Sudan
Warring factions in North Darfur state must "avoid locating military installations within or near densely populated areas, including towns and camps for internally displaced people," said one U.N. official.
Apr 26, 2024
The United Nations' top humanitarian affairs officials on Friday called for an immediate deescalation of hostilities in Sudan, where rival factions in the military government have been fighting for a year and where an attack on the city of El Fasher is reportedly imminent.
About 800,000 people in the city, the capital of North Darfur state, are in "extreme and immediate danger," U.N. aid operations director, Edem Wosornu, told the U.N. Security Council earlier this week, as she reported that clashes between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group, and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) are nearing El Fasher.
Fighting between the two groups has intensified in recent weeks, forcibly displacing an estimated 40,000 people.
The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Friday that the security situation in North Darfur has left more than a dozen aid trucks with relief supplies for 122,000 people stranded in neighboring Northern state, unable to proceed into the only capital city in Darfur that is not controlled by RSF.
"A patchwork of armed actors, including the Darfur Joint Protection Forces, the SAF, and the RSF control different parts of the El Fasher area," Human Rights Watch reported this week. "Tense calm alternating with episodic fighting has prevailed for months."
Since April 14, when RSF began to push into El Fasher, at least 43 people—including women and children—have been killed due to fighting between the SAF and RSF.
"Civilians are trapped in the city, afraid of being killed should they attempt to flee," said Seif Magango, spokesperson for the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, Volker TĂĽrk. "This dire situation is compounded by a severe shortage of essential supplies as deliveries of commercial goods and humanitarian aid have been heavily constrained by the fighting, and delivery trucks are unable to freely transit through RSF-controlled territory."
The lack of humanitarian aid in North Darfur has pushed the state toward a famine, with one child dying of starvation every two hours, according to a February report by Doctors Without Borders.
In December, the U.S. State Department announced an $85 million sale of radar and other military equipment to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which The New York Times reported last year has been covertly supporting the RSF.
U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) proposed a joint resolution to block arms sales to the UAE in January, in light of its support for the paramilitary group.
Omar was among several lawmakers who wrote to President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken earlier this week, urging them to "deliver urgently-needed humanitarian assistance" and to help end the hostilities.
Sudanese-Australian writer Yassmin Abdel-Magied urged Americans on Friday to pressure lawmakers and the White House to take more action.
"There is a tiny window of opportunity for us to find a way to get the UAE... to make the RSF to stop in their tracks," said Abdel-Magied. "Maybe there's a way that we can avoid this massacre."
OCHA called on the warring parties to "take constant care to spare civilians and civilian objects in the conduct of military operations."
"They must, to the extent possible, avoid locating military installations within or near densely populated areas, including towns and camps for internally displaced people," said the office. "It is also imperative that the parties allow safe passage for civilians to leave El Fasher for safer areas."
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With US Workers on the March, Southern States Take Aim at Unions
GOP leaders in the region are "truly astonished that workers might not trust their corporate overlords with their working conditions, pay, health, and retirement," said one critic.
Apr 26, 2024
Since six Southern Republican governors last week showed "how scared they are" of the United Auto Workers' U.S. organizing drive, Tennessee Volkswagen employees have voted to join the UAW while GOP policymakers across the region have ramped up attacks on unions.
The UAW launched "the largest organizing drive in modern American history" after securing improved contracts last year with a strike targeting the Big Three automakers—General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis. The ongoing campaign led to the "landslide" victory in Chattanooga last week, which union president Shawn Fain pointed to as proof that "you can't win in the South" isn't true.
The Tennessee win "is breaking the brains of Republicans in that region. They're truly astonished that workers might not trust their corporate overlords with their working conditions, pay, health, and retirement," Thom Hartmann wrote in a Friday opinion piece.
"The problem for Republicans is that unions represent a form of democracy in the workplace, and the GOP hates democracy as a matter of principle."
"The problem for Republicans is that unions represent a form of democracy in the workplace, and the GOP hates democracy as a matter of principle," he argued. "Republicans appear committed to politically dying on a number of hills that time has passed by. Their commitment to gutting voting rolls and restricting voting rights, their obsession with women’s reproductive abilities, and their hatred of regulations and democracy in the workplace are increasingly seen by average American voters as out-of-touch and out-of-date."
Just before voting began in Chattanooga, GOP Govs. Kay Ivey of Alabama, Brian Kemp of Georgia, Tate Reeves of Mississippi, Henry McMaster of South Carolina, Bill Lee of Tennessee, and Greg Abbott of Texas claimed that "unionization would certainly put our states' jobs in jeopardy" and the UAW is "making big promises to our constituents that they can't deliver on."
The next nationally watched UAW vote is scheduled for May 13-17 at a Mercedes-Benz plant in Vance, Alabama.
"Workers at our plant are ready for this moment," Mercedes employee Jeremy Kimbrell said last week. "We are ready to vote yes because we are ready to win our fair share. We are going to end the Alabama discount and replace it with what our state actually needs. Workers sticking together and sticking by our community."
As workers gear up for the election, the Alabama House of Representatives on Tuesday voted 72-30 for a bill that would withhold future economic incentive money from companies that voluntarily recognize unions rather than holding secret ballots. The state Senate previously passed a version of the legislation but now must consider it with the lower chamber's amendments.
The Associated Pressnoted that "Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed similar legislation on Monday" and that Tennessee already has one on the books.
With his signature on Senate Bill 362, "Kemp's aim is to thwart future organizing attempts by workers at automotive plants in Georgia, such as those operated by Hyundai Motor Group," according toThe Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
As the newspaper detailed:
Georgia has been a right-to-work state since 1947, when Congress passed the Taft-Hartley Act, allowing workers to refuse to join a union or pay dues, even though they may benefit from contracts negotiated by a union with their employer. Just 5.4% of workers in the state belonged to a union in 2023, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
But the National Labor Relations Act of 1935, also known as the Wagner Act, protects the right for workers to form a union and collectively bargain for better wages and working conditions.
The new Georgia law is expected to be challenged in court, labor experts have said.
Acting U.S. Labor Secretary Julie Su told the AP on Thursday that she is not sure if the department will challenge the laws, given the National Labor Relations Board's responsibilities, but she stressed that "there are federal standards beneath which no worker should have to live and work."
In terms of joining a union, "that choice belongs to the worker, free from intervention, either by the employer or by politicians, free from retaliation and threats," Su said. "And what we are seeing is that workers who were thought to be too vulnerable to assert that right are doing it, and they're doing it here in the South."
The U.S. labor chief also slammed "unacceptable" union-busting efforts by companies and suggested that protecting the right to unionize is part of President Joe Biden's "promise to center workers in the economy."
"He has said he's the most pro-worker, pro-union president in history, and we are going to make good on that promise. And that includes making sure that workers have the right to join a union," Su said of the president.
Biden's commitment to workers and unionizing rights has caught the attention of GOP leaders. The governors' joint statement nodded to the UAW's January endorsement of the president, who is seeking reelection in November, and South Carolina's leader attacked the administration earlier this year.
During his January State of the State speech, McMaster declared that "we will not let our state's economy suffer or become collateral damage as labor unions seek to consume new jobs and conscript new dues-paying members. And we will not allow the Biden administration's pro-union policies to chip away at South Carolina's sovereign interests. We will fight. All the way to the gates of hell. And we will win."
News From the Statesreported Friday that "of all the foreign-owned automakers in South Carolina, BMW would be the most likely mark in the near term if enough of its workers show interest. The massive plant near Greer—the manufacturer's only U.S. production facility—employs some 11,000 people, twice the number of workers at Volkswagen in Tennessee and Mercedes in Alabama. It has operated in the Upstate for nearly 30 years and is in the process of adding electric vehicle lines."
However, a UAW spokesperson told the outlet that they don't yet have the numbers for the BMW and Volvo facilities in the state, and Marick Masters, a Wayne State University professor who studies the union, said: "I don't think they're writing anybody off but they know the history of unionization. And I would say South Carolina is a very inhospitable place for unions."
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Leaked USAID Document Concludes Israel Impeded Gaza Aid
"Biden is breaking the law and defying his own agencies to fund Israeli war crimes," said one observer.
Apr 26, 2024
Officials at the United States Agency for International Development concluded in a confidential memo to Secretary of State Antony Blinken that Israel is violating a White House directive by blocking humanitarian aid from entering the besieged Gaza Strip during its ongoing genocidal assault on the Palestinian enclave, according to a report published Friday.
Devex's Colum Lynch reported that the confidential communication—entitled Famine Inevitable, Changes Could Reduce But Not Stop Widespread Civilian Deaths—states that USAID "assesses the government of Israel (GOI) does not currently demonstrate necessary compliance" with a February 8 White House memo requiring the secretary of state to obtain assurances from governments receiving U.S. military aid that such assistance is used in compliance with human rights law.
The USAID memo raises "serious concerns that the killing of nearly 32,000 people, of which the GOI itself assesses roughly two-thirds are civilians, may well amount to a violation of the international humanitarian law." That figure is now over 34,300 deaths, with at least 77,293 people injured and over 11,000 others missing and presumed buried beneath the rubble of hundreds of thousands of bombed-out buildings.
The document states that the "deterioration of food security and nutrition in Gaza is unprecedented in modern history, exponentially outpacing in six months the long-term declines that led to the only other two famine declarations in the 21st century: Somalia (2011) and South Sudan (2017)."
"Adequate health, nutrition, and water, sanitation, and hygiene... an immediate cessation of hostilities, and sustained humanitarian access will be required," the memo continues. "Absent these conditions, all available evidence indicates rising acute food insecurity, malnutrition, and disease will lead to a rapid increase in non-trauma deaths, particularly among women, children, the elderly, and persons with disabilities."
During congressional testimony earlier this month, USAID Administrator Samantha Power answered in the affirmative when U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) asked whether "famine is already occurring" in Gaza.
"Yes," she said. "In northern Gaza, the rate of malnutrition prior to October 7 was almost zero, and it is now one in three—one in three kids."
Biden's February directive states that "the recipient country will facilitate and not arbitrarily deny, restrict, or otherwise impede, directly or indirectly, the transport or delivery of United States humanitarian assistance."
Not only has Israel blocked aid from entering Gaza as children there die of malnutrition and dehydration and millions teeter on the brink of starvation, Israeli troops have attacked Palestinian and international humanitarian workers attempting to deliver aid and desperate Gazans trying to receive it.
Observers say these attacks—which include the infamous " Flour Massacre" and the drone strikes that killed seven World Central Kitchen staffers—were deliberate, which Israel denies.
The blocking of humanitarian aid is a key component of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) genocide case against Israel brought by South Africa and supported by more than 30 nations. On January 26, the ICJ issued a preliminary ruling that found Israel is "plausibly" committing genocide in Gaza and ordered it to prevent future genocidal acts. Critics argue Israel has ignored the order.
According to Lynch:
The paper was cleared by 10 USAID officials, underscoring its widespread backing of the findings. But Sonali Korde, the agency's deputy assistant administrator and head of the Bureau for Humanitarian Affairs, signed off on the document with the phrase INFO, bureaucratic shorthand for passing it up the chain of command without committing to its conclusions. Blinken is required to formally certify to Congress in the coming weeks whether Israel complies with the White House determination.
Last month, the Biden administration
said that Israel's use of U.S.-supplied weapons complies with international law, an assessment lambasted by many observers including Palestinian American political analyst Yousef Munayyer, who called it "absolutely scandalous."
Palestinian and human rights advocates and more than two dozen congressional Democrats have challenged the Biden administration's claim that Israel is using U.S.-supplied weapons in compliance with domestic and international law, pointing to the use of 2,000-pound bombs—which can wipe out an entire city block—in densely populated areas and other potentially illegal actions. In December, Biden acknowledged that Israel's bombing was "indiscriminate."
Critics including progressive members of Congress have called for an arms embargo on Israel. However, Biden this week signed the biggest-ever U.S. aid package for Israel and has
repeatedly bypassed Congress to fast-track armed assistance to the key ally—which already receives nearly $4 billion in U.S. military aid annually. The Biden administration has also quietly approved more than 100 arms sales to Israel since October.
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