It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Friday, April 03, 2020
Fauci Tamps Down Hype About Coronavirus Drug Based on ‘Not Very Robust Study’
Dr. Anthony Fauci, a now-recognizable face in the country’s battle against the coronavirus, used a Friday morning appearance on “Fox & Friends” to caution against hyping up the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine as a cure for the virus.
Fox News’ Steve Doocy asked the doctor about a poll that found that 37% of doctors in the world believe is the most effective medicine against the coronavirus and mentioned strong support he’s seen from guests on the network, notably Dr. Mehmet Oz.
Fauci dismissed the study, saying it wasn’t very “robust.”
He went on, “But getting back to what you said just a moment ago, that ‘x’ percent — I think you said 37% — of doctors feel that it’s beneficial: We don’t operate on how you feel. We operate on what evidence is, and data is, so although there is some suggestion with the study that was just mentioned by Dr. Oz — granted that there is a suggestion that there is a benefit there — I think we’ve got to be careful that we don’t make that majestic leap to assume that this is a knockout drug.”
Brian Kilmeade, another co-host of the popular morning show, pressed Fauci on whether the drug could be useful in preventing the virus: “I would be very curious, Doctor, to see if anyone who was taking this for lupus or arthritis has gotten the coronavirus. That would be one way to go the other way to see about this study.”
“I mean, obviously this is a good drug in many respects for some of the diseases you mentioned, and the one thing we don’t want to happen is that individuals who really need a drug with a proven indication don’t have it available,” Fauci admitted, though he was still quick to caution that what some doctors think is still irrelevant.
Under cover of pandemic, Trump’s NLRB moves to make unionizing ‘nearly impossible for workers’ Published April 3, 2020 By Jake Johnson, Common Dreams
“The Trump NLRB takes this moment to publish a rule that will make it harder both for workers to unionize and to keep unions they have. Shameful does not even begin to describe this.”
The National Labor Relations Board finalized a rule this week that critics warn could make unionizing “nearly impossible for workers” at a moment when employees across the nation are fighting for stronger protections against the coronavirus pandemic.
The proposed rule change from the board—which is controlled by three appointees of President Donald Trump—was published in the Federal Register on April 1. The new rule would eliminate the NLRB’s “blocking charge policy,” which permits the delay of union election results if the employer is accused of unlawful coercion or other unfair labor practices.
“The board is effectively sealing off any viable path to unionization at a time when workers need a voice on the job more than ever.” —Richard Trumka, AFL-CIO
The proposal would also allow employees to file for decertification of a union in as few as 45 days after the union is voluntarily recognized by an employer. Under the new rule, a petition for decertification could be filed if just 30% of employees in a bargaining unit support the move.
Opponents of the new rule said the changes could empower employees to illegally manipulate union election results and allow a minority of workers to decertify a union that a majority of workers voted to form. The rule is set to take effect on May 31 after a 60-day public comment period.
Heidi Shierholz, labor economist at the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), called the rule change “unbelievable.”
“The Trump NLRB takes this moment to publish a rule that will make it harder both for workers to unionize and to keep unions they have,” tweeted Shierholz. “Shameful does not even begin to describe this.”
UNBELIEVABLE. The Trump NLRB takes THIS moment to publish a rule that will make it harder both for workers to unionize and to keep unions they have. Shameful does not even begin to describe this. (For background, here are our comments on the proposed rule https://t.co/lbdCyqKUS6) https://t.co/DQ6zbvc8Gl — Heidi Shierholz (@hshierholz) March 31, 2020
Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, said in a statement that “the board is effectively sealing off any viable path to unionization at a time when workers need a voice on the job more than ever.”
“Donald Trump’s caustic hostility to collective bargaining has manifested itself in the most anti-worker NLRB in America’s history,” said Trumka. “The labor movement will fight these actions with everything we have.”
The proposed rule comes as grocery store employees and other workers deemed essential amid the coronavirus outbreak are walking off the job and holding “sick outs” to protest unsanitary workplaces and lack of protective gear.
The new rule marks the second time in less than a month that the Trump administration has advanced a union-busting proposal.
Last month, as Common Dreams reported, unions accused Trump of exploiting the coronavirus crisis to attack organized labor after the Federal Labor Relations Authority issued a rule proposal that would allow federal employees to cancel union dues at any time after a year of membership, rather than in the annual 15-day window established under current law.
In a blog post on Tuesday responding to the NLRB proposal, EPI government affairs director Celine McNicholas wrote that “it is unconscionable that the agency responsible for ensuring workers have the right to a voice in the workplace has denied them the ability to exercise these rights.”
“Today and in the coming weeks, many workers will walk off the job over concerns for their health and safety in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic,” McNicholas wrote. “These workers are risking their lives to deliver services that have been deemed essential to our nation.”
“At the very least,” said McNicholas, “we should demand that the federal agency responsible for ensuring these workers have the rights to a union and collective bargaining use our taxpayer dollars to conduct union elections for workers who want representation, as opposed to issuing rules that make it harder for workers to have a voice on the job.”
The U.S. economy is entering the 'deepest recession on record'
‘It’s not like we have a massive recession or worse,’
Jobless numbers are 'terrible' but that was anticipated: Expert
The U.S. economy is struggling right now.
BOOM GO CRASH
On Thursday, we learned that initial filings for unemployment insurance totaled a record 6.648 million for the week ending March 28, more than doubling the prior week’s reported total of 3.238 million that had also marked a record high. Distressingly, last week’s data was also revised higher on Thursday to 3.307 million.
And while the labor market fallout from the coronavirus-related economic hard-stop we’re experiencing has been the most abrupt and severe so far, economists at Bank of America Global Research believe the broader economic downturn we’re entering will result in the worst recession in modern U.S. history.
“The recession appears to be deeper and more prolonged than we were led to believe just 14 days ago when we last updated our forecasts, not just in the U.S. but globally as well,” said BofA economists led by Michelle Meyer.
“We now believe that there will be three consecutive quarters of GDP contraction with the US economy shrinking 7% in 1Q, 30% in 2Q and 1% in 3Q. We expect this to be followed by a pop in growth in 4Q. We forecast the cumulative decline in GDP to be 10.4% and this will be the deepest recession on record, nearly five times more severe than the post-war average.” (Emphasis added.) In 2008, the economy experienced a cumulative recessionary decline in GDP of 4%, the most since World War II. BofA is expecting the 2020 recession will be more than twice as severe in terms of the total GDP decline.
Economists at Bank of America expect that the GDP declines seen in the current recession will be the worst on record, more than doubling the drop seen during the financial crisis. (Source: Bank of America Global Research)
The labor market impacts are also expected to be eye-popping as the recession crests in the summer.
Bank of America expects that up to 20 million people will lose their jobs through the third quarter with the unemployment rate potentially peaking north of 15%.
“The shock is unlike anything we have experienced before with part of the economy effectively put into an induced coma,” BofA adds.
“The pain is sudden and acute. But we think there is a recovery on the other side. The first step is to solve the public health crisis and stop the spread of COVID-19. The next step is to slowly open the economy with businesses returning and people going back to work.”
Bank of America expects that GDP will pop 30% in the fourth quarter. But the firm still believes “this will be a slow recovery overall as many workers will be displaced and businesses adapt to a period of lost revenue.” The consumer economy stumbles AND FALLS FLAT ON ITS FACE, ALL THOSE CONSUMERS ARE NOW UNEMPLOYED Over the last few years, when questions about the Federal Reserve’s actions and the health of the global economy came into question, investors became accustomed to citing the strength and health of the U.S. consumer as the backbone of the bull market and economic expansion.
And indeed, just under 70% of GDP growth comes from consumer spending. Since the fourth quarter of 2013, no single quarter has seen U.S. consumer spending rise less than 3%.
But this trend looks set to come to an end.
Using its proprietary data that tracks spending from Bank of America debit and credit cardholders, Meyer and her team note that by the end of March about 20% of consumer spending categories had declined more than 40%.
The number of American workers filing for unemployment claims is exploding across the country.
“It makes sense that the consumer cut back [in March],” Meyer and team write.
“Part of the decline was ‘forced’ since non-essential businesses closed in many regions, automatically cutting sales. And as consumers sheltered at home, their needs change. But we also think it reflects a broader weakness for the consumer as they face job cuts and a significant negative wealth shock. This naturally leads to more cautious behavior.”
The debate around what the period after coronavirus will look like in the U.S. economy still centers on three letters: V, U, and L. Each letter outlines a path for the economic recovery post-virus.
But as Meyer’s commentary outlines, recessions change just about everything about consumer behavior. And boiling these changes down to one letter is futile. When recessions hit, workers that retain a job grow more worried about losing their job. Consumers with exposure to the stock market have seen their net worth decline. And the collective economic memory we all share shifts from recalling recent periods of relative prosperity to the darkest days of restaurants, bars, and shops closing overnight.
And all of these combine to create an environment in which consumers are more cautious and spending is restrained. To the extent that “animal spirits” powered increases in spending during expansions, a recession short circuits these trends.
In this March 13, 2020 file photo, unionized hospitality workers wait in line in a basement garage to apply for unemployment benefits at the Hospitality Training Academy in Los Angeles. More than 6.6 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, far exceeding a record high set just last week, a sign that layoffs are accelerating in the midst of the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)
Data challenges
Like most economists writing about the coronavirus-related slowdown, BofA also notes that capturing the extent of the economic fallout from the coronavirus poses several challenges.
That’s particularly true given the speed and magnitude of the changes mandated by lawmakers and the lag on which economic data is reported.
“There are two things to remember here,” Meyer’s team writes with respect to the data likely to be reported over the next months and quarters. “First, we are reporting the quarterly GDP figures as an annualized quarterly change. So don't be taken by the 30% drop in 2Q, it is really a 8.5% decline from one quarter to another rather than the economy shrinking by a third in one quarter.”
Yahoo Finance’s Rick Newman recently wrote about how to think about the annualized data set to be reported later this year.
“The other consideration,” Meyer writes, “is that it may be difficult for the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) to capture the degree of weakness given the reliance on surveys and historical interpolations. During the last recession, it took several releases with downward revisions before the depth of the downturn was understood.”
Myles Udland is a reporter and anchor at Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter @MylesUdland
Navy Capt. Crozier, fired for letter about coronavirus on USS Roosevelt, gets big send-off from sailors Nicholas Wu, USA TODAY•April 3, 2020651 Comments This handout photo released by the US Navy shows Captain Brett Crozier addressing the crew for the first time as commanding officer of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) during a change of command ceremony on the ships flight deck in San Diego, California on November 1, 2019.
Navy Capt. Crozier, fired for letter about coronavirus on USS Roosevelt, gets big send-off from sailors WASHINGTON – Videos posted on social media showed a huge send-off for Navy Capt. Brett Crozier, the commander of an aircraft carrier who was ousted Thursday after sending a letter pleading with Navy leadership to protect his crew from the spreading coronavirus. One video from the Facebook account of Michael Washington shows hundreds of service members on the hanger deck of the USS Theodore Roosevelt, which is currently docked in Guam, chanting "Captain Crozier! Captain Crozier!" and clapping. https://www.facebook.com/michael.washington.5458/videos/10216506735516262/ Someone in the video says, "and that's how you send off one of the greatest captains you've ever had," and adding "The GOAT [Greatest Of All Time], the man for the people."
Crozier was fired just four days after he pleaded for help as the coronavirus ravaged his crew on the Roosevelt. Crozier had sent an urgent letter to the U.S. Navy on Sunday, seeking to evacuate and isolate the crew as cases of coronavirus infection increased on the vessel. The letter, which was published in the San Francisco Chronicle, had been sent out broadly via email, creating "panic" on the vessel, according to Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly. Modly said Crozier had "exercised extremely poor judgment."
But overnight Thursday, videos surfaced on social media showing a raucous going-away for Crozier and the term "Captain Crozier" started trending on Twitter as many praised his decision to protect his crew.
In the four-page letter to Navy officials, Crozier had asked for the crew of the aircraft carrier to be evacuated and for "decisive action" as the coronavirus spread onboard.
"We are not at war, and therefore cannot allow a single Sailor to perish as a result of this pandemic unnecessarily," Crozier wrote.
Democrats who lead the House Armed Services committee blasted Modly for firing Crozier. The lawmakers acknowledged Crozier improperly went outside the chain of command in releasing his letter, but they called his dismissal an overreaction.
As of Wednesday, about one-quarter of the 4,800 member crew had been tested for the virus, and 93 had been found to have COVID-19. About 1,000 sailors had been evacuated from the ship.
The Gig Workers Of America Tell Us Why They Are Going On Strike During Coronavirus Elly Belle Refinery29 March 31, 2020
As of Monday, March 30, a large percentage of some of the most vulnerable workers in the United States are on strike — and making history in the process. The first mass strike of gig workers came in response to coronavirus concerns, and began with workers for Instacart, the grocery shopper and delivery giant. They announced plans to strike after their work conditions became dire in coronavirus epicenters like New York, and, starting Monday, united by refusing to take orders and make deliveries.
In striking, Instacart workers refused to accept orders until the company provides hazard pay of at least an additional $5 per order as well as free safety gear (hand sanitizer, disinfectant wipes, and soap) during the pandemic. They’ve also demanded that the company expands its paid sick leave to include workers with pre-existing conditions whose doctors have advised them not to work during the pandemic.
But, members of the Instacart community aren’t alone. Workers at both Amazon and Whole Foods (which is owned by Amazon) also announced plans to strike at the same time. While workers in Europe have been striking for weeks, U.S. workers are just now catching up.
Whole Foods workers planned to stage a nationwide “sick-out” starting Tuesday, March 31, with their demands including: guaranteed paid leave for workers who must isolate or self-quarantine instead of coming to work; health care coverage for part-time and seasonal workers; hazard pay; better commitment to ensuring all locations have access to adequate sanitation equipment; and, immediate shutdown of any and all locations where workers test positive for COVID-19.
These strikes are monumental in demanding such dramatic changes in these companies’ conditions, but what’s truly historic about these particular protests is that they are being organized and carried about by a usually defenseless segment of workers: those engaged in the gig economy — comprised of freelance workers who do everything from driving cars to delivering packages, food, and other supplies. Gig economy members are not full-time employees of Instacart or Amazon, and as such, don’t get the typical benefits of those who are. But they’re still working — and are actually the ones on the frontlines of the current COVID-19 pandemic, ensuring Americans receive everything from groceries to staples like toilet paper and cleaning supplies.
At present, workers in at least 11 different warehouses across the country including in New York, Michigan, Florida, Texas, California, and Kentucky, tested positive for coronavirus, but have yet to receive benefits like paid sick leave or hazard pay. Most recently, Whole Foods workers in New York and a Whole Foods worker in Chicago tested positive for coronavirus.
While it’s unknown exactly how many gig workers Instacart employs across the country, Amazon employs almost 800,000 employees (both gig workers and full-time, benefitted employees) nationwide. Whole Foods employs nearly 100,000 workers (both gig workers and full-time) in the U.S. And given the rate that the virus is spreading, it’s inevitable that gig workers will continue to see positive test results from coronavirus without proper protections in place. Still, employees in extremely at-risk positions like these across the country have not been provided benefits for the hazardous, precarious working situations into which they’ve suddenly been foisted.
While it’s a really stressful time for anyone, working a job like this just amplifies that stress.
Sarah Polito, an Instacart worker from the small town of Newark in upstate New York, who has been working for the company as a freelancer for about two years, told Refinery29 that while not all Instacart workers agree with the strike, she still believes it’s ultimately necessary for the good of everyone. “Instacart published something about how they’re committed to protecting workers. However, our demands have still not been met,” Polito says. The accounts they use to work for Instacart can be deactivated by the company for non-compliance at any time, according to Instacart workers. “We are all going to be losing money, which is huge — especially right now with COVID-19. Everyone is struggling.”
One of the main points of the strike is to spread awareness of how Instacart workers are treated and the lack of benefits and protections they have. But according to the workers, who are risking their accounts being deactivated in the process, this calculated risk is worth it — considering the alternative. “Not being given proper PPE, disinfectants and wipes, we aren’t able to take the best precautions, so we’re constantly worrying about everything, so while it’s a really stressful time for anyone, working a job like this just amplifies that stress,” Polito tells Refinery29.
Despite these widespread protests, Instacart claims it’s providing the best benefits the company possibly can at this time, and has even instituted no-contact deliveries to protect both shoppers and customers. But, in the wake of the pandemic, Instacart also moved to hire about 300,000 more full service shoppers, money that might better be used to protect and pay current workers, says Polito. Currently, Instacart workers can make as little as $7 per order, according to Polito.
Another Instacart worker in New Hampshire, Jesse Rogue,* who also occasionally travels and works in the Boston metro area, says that Instacart has been a primary income source for the last two years. In the past month, it’s been their only source of income.
“I delivered to a woman today who has been using Instacart for a while because she has a physical disability and can’t go to the store herself. She had heard about the strike and was really worried that she wouldn’t have a way of getting groceries,” Rogue tells Refinery29. “That’s part of the reason why we need a strike — we know that if Instacart workers are going to work sick and that’s who we are going to be infecting, we know that this job is important right now for public health, but it’s also risky. If gig workers are taking on risk without protection, when we’re also more likely to be uninsured or even undocumented, and we’re not getting benefits, it’s going to cause way more widespread problems.”
If gig workers are taking on risk without protection, when we’re also more likely to be uninsured or even undocumented, and we’re not getting benefits, it’s going to cause way more widespread problems.
In the last four weeks, Instacart says they’ve introduced more than 15 new product features, new health guidelines, new shopper bonuses, new sick leave policies, and new safety supplies, as well as pay for those affected by COVID-19. “Our team has an unwavering commitment to safely serve our shoppers in the wake of COVID-19, and we’ll continue to share additional updates over the coming days, weeks and months ahead as we further support this important community,” Instacart said in a statement sent to Refinery29.
While employees still move to strike for at Instacart, Amazon and Whole Foods workers have reached a similar consensus regarding safety concerns. Aside from seeing minor adjustments to company policy, like now allowing cell phones on the floor for those who need to make emergency calls, Amazon workers say that the company’s inadequate response has left them more vulnerable to becoming infected. “All employers need to prioritize the health and safety of their workforce at this time,” Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union of Amazon, said in a statement. The company, which is also the parent company of Whole Foods, has continued to “maximize its enormous profits even over its employees’ safety,” says Appelbaum.
According to details provided by the company, Amazon is taking measures to safeguard their employees as much as possible. “In addition to all we’re doing to ensure health and safety at our buildings, we also recently implemented daily temperature screenings at our Staten Island fulfillment center as an additional preventative measure to support the health and safety of our customers and employees,” they said in a statement to Refinery29.
Christian Smalls, an Amazon worker from New Jersey who spoke with Jacobin, says that the situation at the facility he works at, known as JFK8, is “horrendous.” According to Smalls, even workers who have tested positive for the disease have been allowed back in the building again and again, putting others at risk. “The way the policy works is that you only get paid quarantine if you get tested and it comes back positive. But we know you can’t even get a test unless you’re really sick, and even then it takes a while to get the results. So you get people who are obviously sick as a dog coming into work,” Smalls explained. In solidarity with Amazon warehouse and delivery workers going on strike, tech workers for Amazon are also pledging not to work for the company until it meets demands.
In response to accusations from Amazon workers on Staten Island, Amazon says they are simply “unfounded.” When asked for comment, Kristen Kish, a spokesperson for Amazon, said to Refinery29, “Of the more 5,000 employees at our Staten Island site, 15 people — less than half a percent of associates — participated in today’s demonstration. Our employees are heroes fighting for their communities and helping people get critical items they need in this crisis. Like all businesses grappling with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, we are working hard to keep employees safe while serving communities and the most vulnerable.”
Despite this, Smalls, the worker who helped organize a walkout from an Amazon fulfillment center that made national headlines, issued a statement after being fired from his position late in the day. “Today, I stood with my co-workers because conditions at JFK8 are legitimately dangerous for workers and the public. Amazon thinks this might shut me up, but I’m going to keep speaking up. My colleagues in New York and all around the country are going to keep speaking up,” Smalls said, adding, “We won’t stop until Amazon provides real protections for our health and safety and clarity for everybody about what it is doing to keep people safe in the middle of the worst pandemic of our lifetimes.”
It is extremely important these stories get out to the public because we are called essential workers but people are still treating us like bottom tier workers who don’t need better pay and protections.
Now, more and more employees are sharing their accounts of working for major companies in the gig economy. A Whole Foods worker from Seattle who wished to remain anonymous said that employees aren’t even allowed to wear protective masks unless they go to HR and go through some sort of special process. “The stores want to maintain an image, and fear that customers will think our workers are sick if they wear a mask. And on top of that, we’re on a point system that can get us fired very quickly if we call out and don’t use PTO,” she tells Refinery29. It is unclear from the company whether or not this is the policy at all Whole Foods stores.
Still, the Whole Foods worker strike, or sick-out, she explains, is important for workers to demand PTO be available to those who have not tested positive for COVID-19. “There are no protections for people who choose to self isolate or have existing health problems that are scared to come to work. Many people cannot get a hold of a test in Seattle. A lot of people do not qualify. If you can’t get a hold of a test in time, then you aren’t eligible for that PTO. It is extremely important these stories get out to the public because we are called essential workers but people are still treating us like bottom tier workers who don’t need better pay and protections.” According to this worker, not many precautions have been taken in her store except for providing extra bottles of hand sanitizer.
While workers are not certain what their companies will do in response to the strikes, they believe the message here serves a greater purpose: They refuse to work during a pandemic without adequate protection. By striking, they’re putting their income at risk, which comes with its own kind of anxiety, but they know it’s necessary to hold companies accountable, and that the gig economy cannot continue to be a loophole for labor rights.
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That appeared to be an accurate assessment after spot checks at the Whole Foods stores in Gowanus and Fort Greene, Brooklyn showed business as usual with some employees telling TheStreet they had no idea there was strike planned for today.
The plan, according to Whole Worker, a national network of Whole Foods employees that organized the sick out, is to pressure Whole Foods into increasing hazard pay, among other demands.
"The most obvious demand we have is for an increase in hazard pay. We’re asking for double pay,” Vice quoted an anonymous Chicago Whole Foods employee, and strike organizer as saying.
Attempts to reach Whole Foods were not successful, but the company did put out a statement to the Daily Mail saying
'It is disappointing that a small but vocal group, many of whom are not employed by Whole Foods Market, have been given a platform to inaccurately portray the collective voice of our 95,000+ Team Members who are heroically showing up every day to provide our communities with an essential service.'
The company also said that the sick out had "no operational impact."
A few weeks ago, Whole Foods raised hourly pay for its workers by $2 an hour and offered to provide two weeks of paid sick leave to workers, but that doesn't go far enough for disgruntled workers who want that pay increase to become permanent. according to a telegram post from a Whole Foods employee.
The elephant in the room is Whole Foods behemoth of a parent company, Amazon (AMZN) - Get Report.
Historically, Amazon has been more risk-averse when it comes to labor and labor disputes. And while Amazon is one of the country's biggest employers with over 400,000 employees in the U.S. alone, its trajectory is pointed toward reducing labor costs over the long term.
The company is also developing robotic warehouse technology that could eventually endanger Amazon's 125,000 full-time fulfillment center employees
As coronavirus cases pop up at warehouses and supermarkets, workers have begun demanding better pay, sick leave and on-the-job protections from the deadly respiratory virus.
(Bloomberg)—Amazon.com Inc., Instacart Inc. and other companies providing food, medicine and other essentials are about to find out whether the pandemic can accomplish what organized labor has struggled to do: give employees and contractors the leverage to extract better working conditions.
Some employees at Amazon’s Staten Island, New York, warehouse walked off the job on Monday, calling for the company to shut the facility for extended cleaning after they say a number of their colleagues were diagnosed with COVID-19. Instacart workers called for a nationwide strike on Monday over safety and pay concerns. And, if a petition circulating online gets traction, workers at Amazon-owned Whole Foods Market plan to call in sick en masse on Tuesday.
As the coronavirus cases pop up at warehouses and supermarkets, workers—cheered on by politicians and labor activists—have begun demanding better pay, sick leave and on-the-job protections from the deadly respiratory virus. Amazon, the second-largest private employer in the U.S., has long been the target of efforts to organize its workforce. They have generally failed.
“These things do sometimes take on a life of their own, and I wonder if we’re in one of those moments where workers are starting to stand up in greater and greater numbers because of the magnitude of the threat they’re facing,” said Brishen Rogers, an associate law professor at Temple University.
Organizers face long odds should they pursue formal unionization. Forming unions in the U.S. is difficult, and the coronavirus has both flooded the market with potential new hires and made large labor rallies impractical. Organizers of the Staten Island walkout say more than 60 employees participated; video from a protest appeared to show a sparser crowd.
“You could come out of this seeing much greater levels of worker organization within Whole Foods and Amazon that could in the future grow into formal unions,” Rogers said. In the meantime, “I think they’ll respond by changing policies, in part to avoid unionization.”
In an emailed statement, Amazon said 15 people out of a workforce of 5,000 participated in the Staten Island demonstration and called their critiques “completely unfounded.”
“Our employees are heroes fighting for their communities and helping people get critical items they need in this crisis,” the company said. “Like all businesses grappling with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, we are working hard to keep employees safe while serving communities and the most vulnerable.” Amazon says it has stepped up cleaning inside its facilities, and that it is supporting employees diagnosed with COVID-19.
A Whole Foods spokeswoman said the grocer is “committed to prioritizing our team members’ well-being, while recognizing their extraordinary dedication.”
Worker protests over coronavirus workplace conditions have also recently hit companies like Perdue Farms, McDonald’s Corp. and General Electric Co., where employees at a Massachusetts site Monday protested—standing 6 feet apart—to demand the company deploy workers to manufacture ventilators in-house.
Amazon boosted its $15 an hour starting pay in the U.S. by $2 an hour through the end of April, and raised overtime pay. Workers at an Amazon warehouse in northern Italy, the epicenter of Europe’s coronavirus outbreak, on Friday said they’d reached an agreement that guaranteed workers an additional five minute break to help practice personal hygiene, and made permanent temporary enhanced cleaning protocols rolled out during the pandemic.
It remains to be seen whether Amazon will be pushed into broader concessions for the workers who pack and ship packages to customers. The U.S. labor market is teeming with millions of newly unemployed workers as large portions of the economy shut down to prevent the spread of the virus. Amazon has said it hopes to hire an additional 100,000 workers to deal with a surge in online shopping by people asked to stay home. Wholesale closings of large chunks of Amazon’s logistics network seem unlikely, say people who follow the company.
Amazon’s responses to worker agita have been rolled out in piecemeal fashion over the last two weeks. When the first coronavirus cases appeared in European warehouses, the company began doing things like removing chairs from break rooms and turning off the metal detectors employees were previously asked to go through on their way out of buildings. Over the weekend, Amazon said it would begin screening some employees in the Seattle and New York areas for fevers, a program Amazon plans to roll out at sites nationwide.
In the U.S., Amazon has also reoriented some work to spread out employees and closed locker rooms. Still several employees who work at facilities across the country have expressed alarm at the decision to keep some facilities with confirmed coronavirus cases open. The only Amazon warehouse known to have closed for an extended period—a warehouse in Shepherdsville, Kentucky—was set to reopen last week before the state governor intervened.
Amazon says it follows public health recommendations for cleaning its sites, and that it reviews video footage to determine who sick employees came into extended contact with. Those workers are asked to go home and into a 14-day quarantine.
Amazon has promised two weeks of sick pay to all employees diagnosed with COVID-19 or ordered into a quarantine; some workers, and a group of U.S. senators, say that’s insufficient.
Emboldened workers can expect consumers to back them if they don’t think companies are protecting their health, said Nelson Lichtenstein, a history professor at the University of California at Santa Barbara. “Here’s a crisis,” he said, “which makes it absolutely clear how important they are.”
As a sociologist who studies agricultural issues, including farm labor, I believe that these workers face particular risks during the current pandemic that, if unaddressed, threaten keeping those grocery store shelves well stocked.
Essential labor
It is difficult to accurately count the number of hired agricultural laborers in the United States, but official sources place the number at 1 million to 2.7 million people, depending on the time of year.
Most of these workers are employed seasonally to perform the hard manual labor of cultivating and harvesting crops. One-half to three-quarters of them were born outside of the United States, with the majority holding Mexican citizenship.
The H-2A visa program authorizes noncitizen agricultural laborers to work in the United States. This program allows farmers to recruit workers for seasonal agricultural jobs, provided the workers return home within 10 months.
But the H-2A program doesn’t cover enough workers to meet the needs of the food system. In 2018, only 243,000 visas were issued under the program – far less than the total number of workers needed to power the farm economy.
Government research suggests that approximately half of the remaining workers on U.S. farms are in the United States without legal authorization. These workers often live in the U.S. year-round, choosing to be in legal limbo rather than risk crossing an increasingly policed border. Some travel from state to state, following the harvest cycle of crops.
The mostly undocumented workers not covered by H-2A visas frequently work for labor contractors, who arrange for their transportation to work sites in shared vans or trucks.
This near-constant physical proximity to one another can facilitate the rapid transmission of the coronavirus. Seriously susceptible
The nature of their work also makes farmworkers especially susceptible to serious coronavirus infections.
Although COVID-19 tends to be most severe in the elderly and people with underlying health conditions, farm laborers face working conditions that may elevate the risk for severe disease.
Moreover, farmworkers face a number of barriers to accessing medical care, ranging from linguistic and cultural differences to lack of reliable transportation to the limited number of medical facilities in many rural communities.
These barriers are especially high for the many undocumented farmworkers, who are not eligible for insurance coverage through the Affordable Care Act, which does cover workers on H-2A visas.
Finally, the labor contractors who employ undocumented workers generally pay only for work that is completed. This means that a day at the doctor’s office is a day without pay – no small sacrifice for a worker making less than $18,000 a year. Impact on the food supply
But what would an outbreak of COVID-19 among farmworkers mean for the food system?
However, widespread infections among farmworkers could make it difficult for farmers to harvest crops. Even before the pandemic, farmers in many agricultural areas were already struggling with labor shortages.
Eventually, consumers could begin to see the impact of any labor shortages in the form of higher prices or shortages of products ranging from strawberries and lettuce to meat and dairy.
There’s no easy solution, but a good start would be ensuring farmworkers are able to follow effective social distancing guidelines, are wearing protective gloves and masks, and are able to get the medical care they need without fear of lost wages or deportation.
Americans depend on these laborers to continue putting food on their tables during this crisis. A little support would go a long way.
For more than 150 years, the United States and Canada have shared what is commonly called the “longest undefended border” in the world. And yet in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, reports emerged that the United States was intending to place military troops near the border as part of Washington’s plan to stop the spread of COVID-19.
What’s behind this threat by the United States to militarize its northern border? For the answer, look to America’s southern border.
Leaked documents revealed that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) had requested the Department of Defense deploy more than 1,500 troops to both the southern and northern borders to support border enforcement during the coronavirus pandemic. Troops requested for northern border Specifically, CBP had requested 1,000 personnel on the northern border and 540 personnel on the southern border. The 540 personnel would be added to the 5,200 troops already present at the U.S.-Mexico border that followed President Donald Trump’s declaration of a national emergency over undocumented immigration in early 2019.
The leaked memo referred to “illegal entries” having “the potential to spread infectious disease.” The memo did not clearly explain how these troops were going to be used — only that they “will not conduct civilian law enforcement activities.” The conditions of the use of force were also unclear. Read more: Keep on trucking: Trucks must keep moving across Canada-U.S. border amid coronavirus
Canada and the United States had already agreed to close their land border to non-essential travel as a way to stop the spread of COVID-19. That decision did not mean the border would be entirely closed — the flow of goods by land was vital for both economies and would not be stopped. Cross-border commutes related to grocery shopping, studies and work were still allowed as well.
Canada’s diplomatic response to the American attempt to militarize its northern border, generally polite but at times tense, is not surprising given the asymmetrical Canada-U.S. relationship.
‘Sleeping with an elephant’
In 1969, Canadian prime minister Pierre Trudeau famously said that living next to the United States “was in some ways like sleeping with an elephant. No matter how friendly or temperate the beast, one is affected by every twitch and grunt.”
Because of this structural asymmetry, Canada-U.S. relations dramatically changed after the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Despite Canadian efforts to meet U.S. security demands against terrorism, Paul Cellucci, the U.S. Ambassador to Canada, bluntly stated in 2003 that “security trumps trade.”
Several Canada-U.S. cross-border regions are integrated (infrastructures, economies, tourism, etc.), but U.S. prevalence of national security has dominated the border agenda since 2001.
The traditional U.S. security focus on drug and illegal immigration on the southern border was renewed after 2001 — but terrorism and weapons of mass destruction also became one of the key national security priorities, which also applied to the northern border.
In this new context, U.S. border workers contributed to make both borders more uniform: CBP officials who are trained and on duty on the Mexican border later move to the Canadian border. They bring with them the corporate culture of CBP from the southern border — values, beliefs and behaviours tainted with U.S.-Mexico border challenges.
The Mexicanization of the northern border conveys the idea that the Canada-U.S. bilateral relationship is far from being unique — or special. The U.S. increasingly sees Canada as just another border where national security threats emerge without distinction.
But the leaked CBP memo shows there is no longer a distinction between the southern and the northern borders. Both are seen as a threat to the safety and security of the United States.
It also shows the world’s longest undefended border is just a fig leaf — an egalitarian symbol in order to hide the deep imbalance between the two countries.
By Bruno Dupeyron, Professor and Graduate Chair, Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy; and Assistant Professor of Law,, University of Regina
“It’s artificial because we turned it off,” Trump said of the economic crisis, a distinction that makes no difference to the millions who have lost their jobs and their health insurance.
During a Coronavirus Task Force briefing late Thursday following news that 10 million Americans filed jobless claims over just a two-week period last month, President Donald Trump downplayed the intensifying economic downturn as “an artificial closing” and insisted that businesses like restaurants will be “bigger and better” than before once the COVID-19 crisis subsides.
“It’s not like we have a massive recession or worse. It’s artificial because we turned it off,” Trump said, drawing a distinction that makes no difference to those who have lost their jobs—as well as employer-provided health insurance—or seen their hours drastically cut due to the crisis.
“Oh thank God, for a second I thought I was actually unemployed and not just artificially unemployed,” one Twitter user quipped in response to the president’s comments.
Amid widespread criticism that the federal government’s economic stimulus and relief efforts have been far too slow and inadequate, Trump said “we will probably do more.”
Watch: Trump’s message to the 6 million people who filed unemployments claims in the last week is that “it’s an artificial closing. It’s not like we have a massive recession or worse. It’s artificial because we turned it off … we will probably do more.” pic.twitter.com/FGVi6xIvbq — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 2, 2020
The president’s remarks came after the Labor Department announced Thursday morning that 6.6 million Americans filed jobless claims last week, a record-breaking figure that economists warned could portend an unprecedented depression.
“This kind of upending of the labor market in such a short time is unheard of,” wrote Heidi Shierholz of the Economic Policy Institute. “Given the incredible deterioration of the labor market in a matter of weeks, federal policymakers will absolutely need to come back and provide more desperately needed relief, and more support for the recovery once the lockdown is over.”
