Unions

Washington — Two days after OSHA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued voluntary interim guidance aimed at preventing the spread of COVID-19 among workers in the meatpacking and poultry-processing industries, President Donald Trump invoked the Defense Production Act of 1950 and declared the facilities “critical infrastructure” in an Executive Order intended to keep meatpacking facilities open.

Washington — The AFL-CIO has outlined steps it says all levels of government should take to protect workers from exposure to COVID-19 before reopening the economy.

Silver Spring, MD — In response to the outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19), the nation’s largest union and professional association of direct care registered nurses is petitioning OSHA to issue an emergency temporary standard to protect frontline workers, patients and the public from the potentially deadly respiratory illness.

Washington — Representatives from two labor unions are bringing attention to resources intended to protect workers in “frontline industries” from exposure to the new coronavirus and are calling on the federal government to provide coordinated guidance.

Washington — United Steelworkers is suing the Environmental Protection Agency and its administrator, Andrew Wheeler, over the agency’s recent changes to the Obama-era Chemical Disaster Rule.

Washington — The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, in conjunction with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, is calling on the Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration to begin enforcing a year-old law that mandates airlines provide flight attendants with a rest break of 10 consecutive hours between periods of duty lasting up to 14 hours.

Washington — The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has vacated a 2018 amendment to a 2017 Mine Safety and Health Administration rule that allowed a competent person to inspect the workplace as miners began work rather than prior to a shift – a decision United Mine Workers of America President Cecil Roberts calls “a victory for miners everywhere.”

Tumwater, WA — In response to a labor union petition, the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries is working on new standards for reinforcing steel and post-tensioning in construction.

Triangle, VA — United Mine Workers of America President Cecil E. Roberts recently called proposed legislation that would reduce the scope of mine safety inspections in West Virginia and amend the state’s underground ventilation laws “one of the most outrageous attempts to slash critical protections for miners’ safety and health on the job that I have ever seen.”

Triangle, VA — The United Mine Workers Association is suing the Mine Safety and Health Administration and its administrator, David Zatezalo, over the legality of the agency’s removal of a Sophia, WV, mine from Pattern of Violations status.