Worker Protections Lacking as Trump Administration Fails to Issue Enforceable Rules Amid Pandemic

Strategic Insights -

The Trump administration's reluctance to issue enforceable rules for worker protection has put millions of essential employees at risk of hazardous conditions during the pandemic. Despite the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) receiving over 5,000 complaints related to the coronavirus, the agency has issued only a single citation, and its leadership is woefully understaffed. As states and municipalities continue to relax shelter-in-place orders, the risk of infection among essential workers, including those in meatpacking plants, is becoming increasingly dire.

Key Takeaways:

  • OSHA has received over 5,000 complaints related to the coronavirus, but has issued only a single citation to a Georgia nursing home for failing to report employee hospitalizations within 24 hours.
  • The agency's top administrator, Loren Sweatt, has stated that general guidelines, rather than rules, allow for adaptability in a rapidly changing scientific and public understanding of the virus.
  • Despite credible complaints of unsafe conditions, OSHA has failed to act, allowing hazards to persist, such as at a Nebraska JBS beef processing plant where over 300 workers contracted the virus.
  • OSHA's current number of inspectors, approximately 860, is 240 fewer than it had in 1975, and the agency conducts 5,000 fewer inspections per year on average than it did during the prior two presidential administrations.
  • Nearly half of OSHA's leadership positions remain unfilled, and the agency has struggled to meet its mandate to protect workers' health and safety.
  • The United Food and Commercial Workers estimates that 29,000 of its members have contracted the coronavirus and 225 have died from Covid-19.
  • The A.F.L.-C.I.O. lawsuit, dismissed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, sought to compel OSHA to issue emergency rules for worker protection.

Statistics:

  • Over 27,000 meatpacking workers have tested positive for the coronavirus, up from 17,000 just last month (estimated).
  • OSHA has received over 5,000 complaints related to the coronavirus.
  • OSHA's current number of inspectors is approximately 860.
  • The agency conducts 5,000 fewer inspections per year on average than it did during the prior two presidential administrations.
  • Nearly half of OSHA's leadership positions remain unfilled.
  • Over 30 million Americans have lost their jobs as a result of the pandemic.

Sources:

  • "Occupational Safety and Health Administration" (no date)
  • "Meatpacking industry facing growing worker COVID-19 outbreaks, union says" (April 2020, Reuters)
  • "OSHA's Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic" (no date, Congressional Hearing Testimony)
  • "The New York Times Opinion" (June 2020)
  • "National Employment Law Project" (no date)
  • "United Food and Commercial Workers" (no date)
  • "A.F.L.-C.I.O. v. Occupational Safety and Health Administration" (no date, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia)