Keeping Organizers and Workers Safe during a Pandemic
Representing manufacturing, production, maintenance and sanitation workers in the baking, confectionery, tobacco and grain milling industries.
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17 Sep Keeping Organizers and Workers Safe during a Pandemic

Posted at 14:36h in Coronavirus, Health & Safety, Organizing by

The coronavirus pandemic has amplified many workers’ desires for workplace protections — both against losing their jobs and against the virus. Faced with unsafe working conditions or precarious employment, workers are turning to the BCTGM for help.

“Employers may or may not provide the safety tools that workers need. And yet workers know that if they speak up and refuse to work without the proper safety measures, they’ll be fired.”

BCTGM International Director of Organization John Price.

Under Price’s leadership, a team of talented union organizers is safely and effectively communicating with workers at plants in states across the country.

From Ohio and Pennsylvania, to Tennessee, New Jersey and Georgia, BCTGM organizers are masking up, practicing social distancing and keeping themselves and the workers safe during the COVID-19 pandemic.
With four out of five union organizing elections scheduled by the Labor Board, and another active campaign waiting to go to election at Danone in Bridgeton, N.J., Price says the safety of union organizers and the workers who want to join a union is the top priority.

“In these unsafe times, both organizers and unorganized workers must practice proper social distance and wear masks when discussing the benefits of belonging to a union. In fact, it is vital that both the organizers and the workers feel they are safe,” says Price.

In Bridgeton, Price began a recent meeting by showing workers how to properly distance themselves when in a group setting and how to cover their faces during meetings with organizers.

In fact, Price says that reviewing these safety measures is routine for organizers. Workers are scheduled to vote at PGP in Clearfield, Pa., Hearthside Food Solutions in McComb, Ohio; Blue City Brewing in Memphis, Tenn. and Nestlé Purina in Heartwell, Ga.

Union members have more leverage than non-union workers to ensure safe working conditions and to negotiate salaries and benefits. According to Price, for BCTGM members, being a part of the union has offered a greater sense of safety before, and during, the current public health crisis.

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