Statement from AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka on the new White House coronavirus economic task force–Council to Reopen America–which does not include a single worker advocate:
Working people are being infected at work and dying to save our neighbors from the coronavirus, and the death count has been made exponentially higher by the historic failure of the federal government to protect essential workers on the front lines. Any discussion about a return to work must include the voices of working people. Considering the fact the Trump administration has failed to implement an emergency temporary workplace infectious disease standard to protect America’s heroes or provide enough personal protective equipment to those still working, and we do not currently have the testing capability to determine who is sick and who is not, the country is nowhere close to being ready to reopen. Any return to work must be based on sound science and worker safety, not President Trump’s whims or the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
Contact: Carolyn Bobb (202) 637-5018