truthout--2020-04-20--Gig Workers at Instacart and Grocery Stores Demand Safety Gear and Hazard Pay

AMY GOODMAN : This is Democracy Now !
, democracynow.org , The Quarantine Report .
I ’ m Amy Goodman .
We ’ re broadcasting from epicenter of the pandemic , New York City .
As President Trump and state governors clash over plans to roll back lockdowns and other protective measures , new figures show more than 22 million Americans have filed unemployment claims since mid-March .
Many are still waiting to receive the financial lifeline the government promised in the $ 2 trillion relief package last month .
Delays may be even longer for self-employed and gig economy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ unemployment benefits but are covered in the relief package .
This comes as grocery stores are one of the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic , with store workers and gig economy shoppers often working without protection , as demand for groceries soars and millions of Americans stay home .
Last week , I spoke with a personal shopper , who formerly worked for the delivery app Instacart , about the risks grocery store and delivery workers face .
Instacart workers went on strike in March to demand the company implement appropriate safety measures @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Telles is a member of the Gig Workers Collective , which organized the strike .
I asked him to start by explaining the history of Instacart .
MATTHEW TELLES : Yeah .
Instacart is one of these startups from , you know , about seven or eight years ago , a little after Uber was created , came out of that group of the first batch , and really small to start off .
I started in late 2015 , and it was amazing .
I had a previous career that I had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ injury , and was going to use Instacart as like a kind of just a stopgap until I found my next venture , and fell in love with it .
It paid great , gave me access to all the amazing buildings downtown , like the top of the Sears Tower , all the tunnels .
Like , someone who loves history , like it was amazing .
And pretty — a couple months after I started , around 2016 , early 2016 , Instacart wanted to start competing with Amazon , who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and implemented what ’ s known in the industry as something called scale hacking or growth hacking , where they grow at all costs just to beat their nearest competitor to market .
And the way that they do that is they start cutting the pay for all of their frontline employees , like myself , the shopper who ’ s out in the stores .
The first huge move that they tried to do , back when there was only about 70,000 total shoppers in the country , not even in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that they were going to remove tipping from the platform , which at that point , for me personally in Chicago , made up about 18 % average for what I earned every day .
So we kind of banded together .
We used our large Facebook groups to kind of just find the loudest voices and band together and fight back .
And , you know , we got them to reinstate tipping , after threatening to walk off .
And ever since then , we feel like they ’ ve been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Last count , they had 200,000 shoppers , but they have just brought on almost like 100,000 more in the last two weeks , as people — AMY GOODMAN : Now , can I interrupt you ?
When you say “ shoppers , ” they bring on shoppers — AMY GOODMAN : — explain how how system works .
Someone goes online and puts in an order for food , and then what happens at your end ?
MATTHEW TELLES : So , on my end , that will be grouped in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s called “ on demand.
” It ’ s a way for Instacart to get out from under , like , employment protections , with AB 5 in California .
So there ’ s just a bunch of orders displayed for you , and you have to grab them before someone else does .
So , right now , since there ’ s so much desperation out there , a lot of people trying to make ends meet , they go very quickly , and you just got to be fast .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ address you ’ re delivering to , what ’ s in the order .
You just blindly grab it and hope that it pays [ inaudible ] labor .
AMY GOODMAN : Where do you grab it from ?
MATTHEW TELLES : From the app on our smartphones .
Most people will be sitting in a parking lot of a grocery store that they prefer to shop at .
So , they ’ ll try and shop at that store , after getting the list of available batches , and they ’ ll @ @ @ @ @ @ @ then no one else can claim it .
And then you start shopping that order in the grocery store , as you would for yourself .
You wait in a checkout line , as you would for yourself .
There ’ s no like special privileges for Instacart contractors .
And then you deliver with your own vehicle to the customer ’ s doorstep , hopefully , and you swipe “ delivered , ” and you move on to your next one .
More batches become available , and you get to choose @ @ @ @ @ @ @ And what kind of protective gear are people given ?
MATTHEW TELLES : Well , as of just a couple days ago , none .
Just this morning , as I was checking the various Facebook groups across the country , I have seen that some of the hand sanitizers that Instacart ordered are starting to arrive .
We have some reports that a lot of them are damaged , though , so they ’ re leaking and not making it to the people who ordered them .
You can ’ t order @ @ @ @ @ @ @ And we haven ’ t seen any of the safety kits they created actually arrive yet .
I actually have a preorder out for one , just to see if it ever arrives .
At this point , after four-plus years of fighting Instacart , I don ’ t believe anything they say until I can see it , touch it and actually like experience it .
So , I don ’ t even know if those exist .
Instacart PR is telling a lot of the media that , you know , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ things .
And they ’ re just empty words to a lot of people like me .
MATTHEW TELLES : You know , we — sorry , go ahead .
AMY GOODMAN : You talked about tipping and how it was removed , now it ’ s put back .
Can you talk about what ’ s happening now , how people use tipping to make sure that , you know , they can somehow get an order not a month from now ?
And what actually happens to those tips ?
MATTHEW @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s obviously a huge history with tipping in Instacart .
But this is actually a problem that was uncovered or picked up by CNN recently about tip baiting .
This has been an ongoing issue with Instacart for years , where , you know , certain Facebook groups of like couponers and other people , they pass like life hacks that have actual real-world ramifications for humans .
And , you know , there ’ s something going on right now where people will put their tip high on an order , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ time .
So we will , you know , “ Oh , they ’ re going to pay me a $ 100 tip to get them , you know , 20 items at a grocery store .
That ’ s worth my time .
I ’ ll take it.
” But you go to the store , you shop the order , you get maybe half of it , you deliver it , and then , you know , a half-hour after delivery , you ’ ll see that the tip was removed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is going on .
It ’ s either tip baiting or another Instacart bug in their systems that basically handle all the financial side of how we ’ re paid .
We ’ ve had them admit to a tip-stealing bug on at least two or three occasions , and probably several more that they ’ ll never admit to .
So , it ’ s really hard to tell with no transparency within the company .
It ’ s all through blackbox algorithms .
And really , you know , we just @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s going on by crowdsourcing information via Facebook and Twitter .
AMY GOODMAN : I wanted to ask you about a statement made by the Instacart founder and CEO , Apoorva Mehta , who announced the company would bring on 300,000 additional shoppers to meet increased demand amidst the pandemic .
Mehta said workers are being provided with health and safety supplies , issued a statement that said , quote , “ We are also offering additional support for shoppers who may be affected by COVID-19 .
All in-store shoppers nationwide now have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ benefit that can be used as paid time off if you ’ re absent from work due to illness or injury .
Additionally , any full-service or in-store shopper can receive up to 14 days of extended pay if you ’ re diagnosed with COVID-19 or placed in individual mandatory isolation or quarantine.
” Again , the statement of the CEO of Instacart .
Your response , Matthew Telles ?
MATTHEW TELLES : I ’ m like shaking with rage right now .
I ’ ve said it before .
If I was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ would put a hiring freeze on all of these apps immediately , until they prove those words you just read to me , because that ’ s not the real-world application .
Instacart announced they ’ re hiring 300,000 people , 27,000 of them to your epicenter in New York and another 50,000 to California , which is on like a complete lockdown .
These new shoppers are the ones who are recently out of work .
And everyone deserves a living wage .
And it breaks my heart to see these new @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I ’ m still out in the stores with my personal business that I was able to create over the last couple of years with a different company .
And my biggest issue right now is all these new Instacart shoppers that are unprotected in the stores with their entire families a lot of times .
They ’ re really harassing the grocery store workers a lot of times .
We have a lot of reports of that , and I ’ ve seen that with my own eyes .
We ’ re @ @ @ @ @ @ @ there ’ s issues at delivery .
There ’ s issues with safety .
We have reports of Instacart asking a simple one-question hiring process of “ Have you been convicted of a felony in the last seven years ?
” If you answer no , you are immediately activated and could go shop orders using like Google Pay .
So , last week and two weeks ago , people were just getting activated and on-boarded immediately .
They sent a email to their customer base saying , basically , “ Hey , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ You want to work for Instacart as a shopper ?
” And everyone signed up .
And they bragged about that .
I have the email .
It ’ s gross .
And so , they just activated these new shoppers without background checks .
There ’ s even reports of , down in Miami , they ’ re hiring underage people , 16 , 17 years old .
And they were having issues at checkout because they didn ’ t even have their payment cards yet or any identification , and Google @ @ @ @ @ @ @ paying for Instacart orders with their own money .
And that ’ s always been a problem to get Instacart to reimburse you for that .
So , we ’ re just trying to get a bunch of information out there to these new shoppers .
We ’ re not here to police them .
But like , if no one ’ s going to train them , someone has to .
And , you know , we ’ ll do what we can in the stores or answer some questions in Facebook @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of thin .
And , you know , it ’ s definitely very emotional , when you ’ re in a grocery store trying to stay safe , and now you ’ re trying to traverse , you know , hordes of Instacart shoppers at Costco and trying to avoid the elderly folks in the store , who are trying to protect themselves , while also trying to avoid the other group of people who are like in denial .
So , the job ’ s become very , very stressful .
It @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I don ’ t think eight out of the 10 people who have just been laid off should be looking at Instacart for employment .
It ’ s just not worth it .
AMY GOODMAN : And what do you say to customers of Instacart ?
Some people have just discovered it for the first time during this pandemic .
What kind of leverage do you think customers have to ensure that the gig workers , the people who work , the shoppers , are justly dealt with ?
MATTHEW TELLES : Customers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Instacart will always tell the media and customers that people like myself and the groups that I work with and organize are a vocal minority .
And that ’ s just definitely not the case .
A lot of people are speaking up .
We ’ re getting way less pushback from joining our actions as of late , because this is a very serious issue .
And people are starting to realize that groceries , your food , your health , your safety , are also very important , because all @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to take down your entire family and anyone that you might be kind of linked up with .
But Instacart customers , especially new ones , look at the deep history of what we ’ ve been involved in over the last four-and-a-half years .
It ’ s all available in a quick Google search .
Just look up Instacart and hit “ news , ” and you ’ ll be able to read all about the different things that Instacart ’ s kind of done over the years , all of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ caught in , all of this stuff .
Basically , their PR statements , there ’ s just the same thing every six months .
So you can go back and read them all , and they ’ re all just the same statement .
And they ’ re all hollow .
No action has ever been taken from them .
So , just do your research .
And then , once you ’ ve learned about Instacart — don ’ t take my word for it , like listen to journalists and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ know , there are still some grocery stores out there that aren ’ t tied to Instacart , that have their own in-house delivery still .
It ’ s a good-paying job .
There ’ s also other apps out there that are much more ethical .
Me , personally , I was able to link up and work closely with the founders of an app called Dumpling , out of Seattle , that lets me set my own rates .
And that could be as low as free .
I get to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , whether it be elderly people or immunocompromised , which then the company , Dumpling , is going to subsidize , which I haven ’ t asked for yet , because I ’ m one of the lucky few that has more work than I can really , you know , handle right now , because people are not using Instacart or Amazon .
Amazon just put a freeze on new customers , because they can ’ t handle it .
So , right now we ’ re seeing like this business model @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of demand .
And us veteran shoppers always knew that was going to happen , and we ’ ve been blowing the whistle and calling foul on a lot of these different hacks that these companies utilize , and loopholes .
And because of that , I haven ’ t had to market with Dumpling or anything .
People are just coming to me .
It ’ s free marketing .
And I have — my days are packed .
From 9 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. , I ’ m driving all over @ @ @ @ @ @ @ GOODMAN : Matthew , if you could end by just talking about the Gig Workers Collective ?
Not just Instacart , but talk about — AMY GOODMAN : — what , overall , people are facing .
And who is the population of gig workers that are doing this kind of shopping at this absolutely critical time , where , as one of your statements puts out of the Gig Workers Collective , “ Instacart has turned this pandemic into a PR campaign , portraying itself the hero of families that are sheltered-in-place @ @ @ @ @ @ @ But who are the gig workers , in general , the other companies and the population of gig workers ?
MATTHEW TELLES : So , Gig Workers Collective came about after years of just being a ragtag group of people in Facebook and Twitter — me , Vanessa , Sarah .
And then people have come and gone over the years .
You know , they either just left the gig industry altogether or moved on to other things or just couldn ’ t handle it or , you know , are still @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people now all over the country linked up .
I don ’ t even know what most of the people look like .
So we ’ re just shoppers .
Most of us are people that are still kind of trying to rebuild from the last recession .
I graduated right when it hit .
So , you know , I haven ’ t had a good past decade , and I ’ m now finally in a position where I ’ m having a great decade .
And it ’ s awesome @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ re now kind of trying to streamline the process so we can get the message out even farther , as — because everyone ’ s going to be in the gig industry eventually , if we don ’ t do something .
You know , everyone just got laid off — what ?
Like eight in 10 workers or something , about to .
And we ’ re probably going to be in a depression .
So , everyone ’ s going to be in the gig economy .
You know , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be the systemically impoverished minorities , immigrants .
They start with them , us — Mexican myself .
And now we ’ re seeing , you know , more of the middle class being laid off again , just like last time .
They ’ re going to start flooding these apps and aren ’ t going to have enough information to do them safely or adequately .
So we ’ re just trying to get the word out , because we know that we ’ re not going to be able to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ now .
And if they have to risk that , they need to be protected with information and what to look out for , because these companies — Uber , Lyft , DoorDash , Grubhub , Caviar , Shipt — DoorDash is one of the worst ones — and Instacart , the king of just horrendous business decisions — will take advantage of them .
You know , they call us essential workers .
From watching you guys all today , it seems more like we ’ re expendable .
I guarantee you @ @ @ @ @ @ @ doors that say , you know , “ When they die , we ’ ll just replace them.
” And it ’ s heartbreaking .
But from that , we see so much good coming out of it with helping each other .
[ inaudible ] MATTHEW TELLES : I think , at first , when the adrenaline was still there , we were essential .
We were prideful .
And now , as we get more into it , that ’ s wearing off , and it ’ s seeming more like @ @

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The Quarantine Report. I’m Amy Goodman. We’re broadcasting from epicenter of the pandemic, New York City.
As President Trump and state governors clash over plans to roll back lockdowns and other protective measures, new figures show more than 22 million Americans have filed unemployment claims since mid-March. Many are still waiting to receive the financial lifeline the government promised in the $2 trillion relief package last month. Delays may be even longer for self-employed and gig economy workers who are not normally eligible for unemployment benefits but are covered in the relief package.
This comes as grocery stores are one of the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic, with store workers and gig economy shoppers often working without protection, as demand for groceries soars and millions of Americans stay home.
Last week, I spoke with a personal shopper, who formerly worked for the delivery app Instacart, about the risks grocery store and delivery workers face. Instacart workers went on strike in March to demand the company implement appropriate safety measures and give them hazard pay. Matthew Telles is a member of the Gig Workers Collective, which organized the strike. I asked him to start by explaining the history of Instacart.
MATTHEW TELLES: Yeah. Instacart is one of these startups from, you know, about seven or eight years ago, a little after Uber was created, came out of that group of the first batch, and really small to start off. I started in late 2015, and it was amazing. I had a previous career that I had to leave behind because of a workplace injury, and was going to use Instacart as like a kind of just a stopgap until I found my next venture, and fell in love with it. It paid great, gave me access to all the amazing buildings downtown, like the top of the Sears Tower, all the tunnels. Like, someone who loves history, like it was amazing.
And pretty — a couple months after I started, around 2016, early 2016, Instacart wanted to start competing with Amazon, who had just kind of purchased Whole Foods, and implemented what’s known in the industry as something called scale hacking or growth hacking, where they grow at all costs just to beat their nearest competitor to market. And the way that they do that is they start cutting the pay for all of their frontline employees, like myself, the shopper who’s out in the stores.
The first huge move that they tried to do, back when there was only about 70,000 total shoppers in the country, not even in Canada yet, Instacart made an announcement that they were going to remove tipping from the platform, which at that point, for me personally in Chicago, made up about 18% average for what I earned every day. So we kind of banded together. We used our large Facebook groups to kind of just find the loudest voices and band together and fight back. And, you know, we got them to reinstate tipping, after threatening to walk off. And ever since then, we feel like they’ve been retaliating as they’ve grown more.
Last count, they had 200,000 shoppers, but they have just brought on almost like 100,000 more in the last two weeks, as people —
AMY GOODMAN: Now, can I interrupt you? When you say “shoppers,” they bring on shoppers —
MATTHEW TELLES: Yeah.
AMY GOODMAN: — explain how how system works. Someone goes online and puts in an order for food, and then what happens at your end?
MATTHEW TELLES: So, on my end, that will be grouped in a offering in my area. It’s called “on demand.” It’s a way for Instacart to get out from under, like, employment protections, with AB 5 in California. So there’s just a bunch of orders displayed for you, and you have to grab them before someone else does. So, right now, since there’s so much desperation out there, a lot of people trying to make ends meet, they go very quickly, and you just got to be fast. And you don’t know the address you’re delivering to, what’s in the order. You just blindly grab it and hope that it pays [inaudible] labor.
AMY GOODMAN: Where do you grab it from?
MATTHEW TELLES: From the app on our smartphones. Most people will be sitting in a parking lot of a grocery store that they prefer to shop at. So, they’ll try and shop at that store, after getting the list of available batches, and they’ll select it and claim it. And then no one else can claim it. And then you start shopping that order in the grocery store, as you would for yourself. You wait in a checkout line, as you would for yourself. There’s no like special privileges for Instacart contractors. And then you deliver with your own vehicle to the customer’s doorstep, hopefully, and you swipe “delivered,” and you move on to your next one. More batches become available, and you get to choose from that list.
AMY GOODMAN: And what kind of protective gear are people given?
MATTHEW TELLES: Well, as of just a couple days ago, none. Just this morning, as I was checking the various Facebook groups across the country, I have seen that some of the hand sanitizers that Instacart ordered are starting to arrive. We have some reports that a lot of them are damaged, though, so they’re leaking and not making it to the people who ordered them. You can’t order them right now on their website.
And we haven’t seen any of the safety kits they created actually arrive yet. I actually have a preorder out for one, just to see if it ever arrives. At this point, after four-plus years of fighting Instacart, I don’t believe anything they say until I can see it, touch it and actually like experience it. So, I don’t even know if those exist. Instacart PR is telling a lot of the media that, you know, they’re doing all these great things. And they’re just empty words to a lot of people like me.
AMY GOODMAN: So —
MATTHEW TELLES: You know, we — sorry, go ahead.
AMY GOODMAN: You talked about tipping and how it was removed, now it’s put back. Can you talk about what’s happening now, how people use tipping to make sure that, you know, they can somehow get an order not a month from now? And what actually happens to those tips?
MATTHEW TELLES: Yeah. So, there’s obviously a huge history with tipping in Instacart. But this is actually a problem that was uncovered or picked up by CNN recently about tip baiting. This has been an ongoing issue with Instacart for years, where, you know, certain Facebook groups of like couponers and other people, they pass like life hacks that have actual real-world ramifications for humans.
And, you know, there’s something going on right now where people will put their tip high on an order, which we see the tip ahead of time. So we will, you know, “Oh, they’re going to pay me a $100 tip to get them, you know, 20 items at a grocery store. That’s worth my time. I’ll take it.” But you go to the store, you shop the order, you get maybe half of it, you deliver it, and then, you know, a half-hour after delivery, you’ll see that the tip was removed.
So, one of two things is going on. It’s either tip baiting or another Instacart bug in their systems that basically handle all the financial side of how we’re paid. We’ve had them admit to a tip-stealing bug on at least two or three occasions, and probably several more that they’ll never admit to. So, it’s really hard to tell with no transparency within the company. It’s all through blackbox algorithms. And really, you know, we just got to kind of feel what’s going on by
crowdsourcing information via Facebook and Twitter.
AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to ask you about a statement made by the Instacart founder and CEO, Apoorva Mehta, who announced the company would bring on 300,000 additional shoppers to meet increased demand amidst the pandemic. Mehta said workers are being provided with health and safety supplies, issued a statement that said, quote, “We are also offering additional support for shoppers who may be affected by COVID-19. All in-store shoppers nationwide now have access to sick pay, an accrued benefit that can be used as paid time off if you’re absent from work due to illness or injury. Additionally, any full-service or in-store shopper can receive up to 14 days of extended pay if you’re diagnosed with COVID-19 or placed in individual mandatory isolation or quarantine.” Again, the statement of the CEO of Instacart. Your response, Matthew Telles?
MATTHEW TELLES: I’m like shaking with rage right now. I’ve said it before. If I was the governor of any state, I would put a hiring freeze on all of these apps immediately, until they prove those words you just read to me, because that’s not the real-world application.
Instacart announced they’re hiring 300,000 people, 27,000 of them to your epicenter in New York and another 50,000 to California, which is on like a complete lockdown. These new shoppers are the ones who are recently out of work. And everyone deserves a living wage. And it breaks my heart to see these new shoppers out in the stores, because I’m still out in the stores with my personal business that I was able to create over the last couple of years with a different company. And my biggest issue right now is all these new Instacart shoppers that are unprotected in the stores with their entire families a lot of times. They’re really harassing the grocery store workers a lot of times. We have a lot of reports of that, and I’ve seen that with my own eyes. We’re seeing issues where, you know, there’s issues at delivery. There’s issues with safety.
We have reports of Instacart asking a simple one-question hiring process of “Have you been convicted of a felony in the last seven years?” If you answer no, you are immediately activated and could go shop orders using like Google Pay. So, last week and two weeks ago, people were just getting activated and on-boarded immediately. They sent a email to their customer base saying, basically, “Hey, we know you got laid off. You want to work for Instacart as a shopper?” And everyone signed up. And they bragged about that. I have the email. It’s gross. And so, they just activated these new shoppers without background checks.
There’s even reports of, down in Miami, they’re hiring underage people, 16, 17 years old. And they were having issues at checkout because they didn’t even have their payment cards yet or any identification, and Google Pay was failing. So they were paying for Instacart orders with their own money. And that’s always been a problem to get Instacart to reimburse you for that.
So, we’re just trying to get a bunch of information out there to these new shoppers. We’re not here to police them. But like, if no one’s going to train them, someone has to. And, you know, we’ll do what we can in the stores or answer some questions in Facebook groups, but patience is wearing kind of thin. And, you know, it’s definitely very emotional, when you’re in a grocery store trying to stay safe, and now you’re trying to traverse, you know, hordes of Instacart shoppers at Costco and trying to avoid the elderly folks in the store, who are trying to protect themselves, while also trying to avoid the other group of people who are like in denial. So, the job’s become very, very stressful. It’s not for everyone. And I don’t think eight out of the 10 people who have just been laid off should be looking at Instacart for employment. It’s just not worth it.
AMY GOODMAN: And what do you say to customers of Instacart? Some people have just discovered it for the first time during this pandemic. What kind of leverage do you think customers have to ensure that the gig workers, the people who work, the shoppers, are justly dealt with?
MATTHEW TELLES: Customers actually do have a lot of leverage. Instacart will always tell the media and customers that people like myself and the groups that I work with and organize are a vocal minority. And that’s just definitely not the case. A lot of people are speaking up. We’re getting way less pushback from joining our actions as of late, because this is a very serious issue. And people are starting to realize that groceries, your food, your health, your safety, are also very important, because all it takes is one infected delivery person to take down your entire family and anyone that you might be kind of linked up with.
But Instacart customers, especially new ones, look at the deep history of what we’ve been involved in over the last four-and-a-half years. It’s all available in a quick Google search. Just look up Instacart and hit “news,” and you’ll be able to read all about the different things that Instacart’s kind of done over the years, all of the kind of lies they’ve been caught in, all of this stuff. Basically, their PR statements, there’s just the same thing every six months. So you can go back and read them all, and they’re all just the same statement. And they’re all hollow. No action has ever been taken from them. So, just do your research.
And then, once you’ve learned about Instacart — don’t take my word for it, like listen to journalists and experts — look for alternatives. You know, there are still some grocery stores out there that aren’t tied to Instacart, that have their own in-house delivery still. It’s a good-paying job. There’s also other apps out there that are much more ethical.
Me, personally, I was able to link up and work closely with the founders of an app called Dumpling, out of Seattle, that lets me set my own rates. And that could be as low as free. I get to choose who I give free delivery to, whether it be elderly people or immunocompromised, which then the company, Dumpling, is going to subsidize, which I haven’t asked for yet, because I’m one of the lucky few that has more work than I can really, you know, handle right now, because people are not using Instacart or Amazon. Amazon just put a freeze on new customers, because they can’t handle it.
So, right now we’re seeing like this business model kind of blow up under the stress of demand. And us veteran shoppers always knew that was going to happen, and we’ve been blowing the whistle and calling foul on a lot of these different hacks that these companies utilize, and loopholes. And because of that, I haven’t had to market with Dumpling or anything. People are just coming to me. It’s free marketing. And I have — my days are packed. From 9 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., I’m driving all over. It’s awesome.
AMY GOODMAN: Matthew, if you could end by just talking about the Gig Workers Collective? Not just Instacart, but talk about —
MATTHEW TELLES: Yeah.
AMY GOODMAN: — what, overall, people are facing. And who is the population of gig workers that are doing this kind of shopping at this absolutely critical time, where, as one of your statements puts out of the Gig Workers Collective, “Instacart has turned this pandemic into a PR campaign, portraying itself the hero of families that are sheltered-in-place, isolated, or quarantined”? But who are the gig workers, in general, the other companies and the population of gig workers?
MATTHEW TELLES: So, Gig Workers Collective came about after years of just being a ragtag group of people in Facebook and Twitter — me, Vanessa, Sarah. And then people have come and gone over the years. You know, they either just left the gig industry altogether or moved on to other things or just couldn’t handle it or, you know, are still with us. We have dozens of people now all over the country linked up. I don’t even know what most of the people look like. So we’re just shoppers. Most of us are people that are still kind of trying to rebuild from the last recession. I graduated right when it hit. So, you know, I haven’t had a good past decade, and I’m now finally in a position where I’m having a great decade. And it’s awesome.
But, you know, we’re now kind of trying to streamline the process so we can get the message out even farther, as — because everyone’s going to be in the gig industry eventually, if we don’t do something. You know, everyone just got laid off — what? Like eight in 10 workers or something, about to. And we’re probably going to be in a depression. So, everyone’s going to be in the gig economy. You know, it’s not just going to be the systemically impoverished minorities, immigrants. They start with them, us — Mexican myself. And now we’re seeing, you know, more of the middle class being laid off again, just like last time. They’re going to start flooding these apps and aren’t going to have enough information to do them safely or adequately. So we’re just trying to get the word out, because we know that we’re not going to be able to prevent people from looking for income right now. And if they have to risk that, they need to be protected with information and what to look out for, because these companies — Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Grubhub, Caviar, Shipt — DoorDash is one of the worst ones — and Instacart, the king of just horrendous business decisions — will take advantage of them.
You know, they call us essential workers. From watching you guys all today, it seems more like we’re expendable. I guarantee you there’s some memos behind closed doors that say, you know, “When they die, we’ll just replace them.” And it’s heartbreaking. But from that, we see so much good coming out of it with helping each other. [inaudible]
AMY GOODMAN: Expendable or essential, Matthew?
MATTHEW TELLES: I think, at first, when the adrenaline was still there, we were essential. We were prideful. And now, as we get more into it, that’s wearing off, and it’s seeming more like expendable.


truthout--2020-04-20--Pelosi Picks Friend With Corporate Ties to Oversee COVID-19 Bailout Fund

Rep. Katie Porter , a freshman California Democrat and consumer finance expert who quickly made a name for herself in Washington with viral grillings of corporate big-wigs , actively lobbied for a seat on the new congressional committee tasked with overseeing the Trump administration ’ s handling of a multi-trillion-dollar coronavirus bailout fund .
But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ( D-Calif. ) has instead decided to appoint her friend Rep. Donna Shalala ( D-Fla. ) , a freshman with ties to corporations that will likely receive taxpayer bailout money , to fill the role — despite her reported lack of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ American Prospect ’ s David Dayen wrote Saturday after Pelosi announced her selection for the spot on the Congressional Oversight Commission , Shalala — unlike Porter — “ has no expertise in the financial industry or the Fed.
” “ The two committees that would prepare you for this position are Financial Services and Oversight ( Porter sits on both ) , ” Dayen noted .
“ Shalala sits on Education and Labor and Rules .
She ’ s on the early childhood education subcommittee , so if that ever comes up in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or high-yield ETF purchases we ’ re in good shape.
” “ These are deliberately complex programs that require for oversight someone with a passing familiarity with the financial system and corporate America , ” added Dayen , who said Shalala ’ s appointment “ makes a mockery ” of the oversight panel .
Particularly troubling are Shalala ’ s connections to companies that are well-positioned to benefit from the massive bailout fund established by the CARES Act , which President Donald Trump signed into law last month .
Dayen ran through Shalala @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : In Shalala ’ s most recent financial disclosure , dated May 2019 , she lists share ownership in an array of companies that will be at the front of the line for a bailout .
She holds shares in Boeing , as well as Alaska Airlines and Spirit Aerosystems , which builds a lot of pieces of Boeing aircraft .
She owns Chevron , ConocoPhillips , Royal Dutch Shell , and Occidental Petroleum at a time of a historic crash in oil prices .
She owns entertainment stock in Paramount , Live @ @ @ @ @ @ @ latter almost certainly headed to bankruptcy .
She owns Choice Hotels ; nobody ’ s staying in hotels .
She owns TripAdvisor ; nobody ’ s taking trips .
She owns retailers and retail producers Ralph Lauren , L Brands , Burlington Stores , and Five Below ; retail ’ s in trouble ( she ’ s also got Walmart , so she ’ s OK there ) .
She owns big banks JPMorgan Chase , Wells Fargo , Bank of New York Mellon , BBVA Compass , and HSBC .
Others also @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Shalala over Porter for the five-member oversight committee .
“ The reason not to have Katie Porter do this job is so that the job doesn ’ t get done , ” tweeted The Intercept ’ s Ryan Grim .
“ She has millions of dollars of stock in companies that will benefit from no-questions-asked , no-strings-attached Fed support , ” Eisinger tweeted .
Republican congressional leaders also announced their picks for the oversight panel on Friday .
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell ( R-Ky. ) selected Sen. Pat Toomey ( R-Penn @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Koch network and U.S. Chamber of Commerce , while House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy ( R-Calif. ) chose Rep. French Hill ( R-Ark. )
.
The final member must be agreed upon by McConnell and Pelosi .
The three newest members of the committee will join Bharat Ramamurti , who was selected for the role by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer ( D-N.Y. ) .
Ramamurti , as Common Dreams reported , has thus far been outspoken about the need for transparency in how the bailout funds are being distributed by the Federal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ public deserves to know which companies are receiving taxpayer-backed lending through the Fed and on what terms , and to be able to monitor what those companies do after receiving taxpayer support , ” Ramamurti wrote in a letter to Fed Chair Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin last week .
Following Ramamurti ’ s letter , the Fed announced on Friday that it plans to publicly disclose some information about companies seeking taxpayer bailout money .
“ I ’ m glad the Fed is now working on a plan to publish @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Ramamurti tweeted .
“ But the Fed needs to provide all the information I requested in my letter yesterday if it ’ s truly going to provide the information the public deserves .
”

Rep. Donna Shalala has connections to companies that are well-positioned to benefit from the bailout.
Rep. Katie Porter, a freshman California Democrat and consumer finance expert who quickly made a name for herself in Washington with viral grillings of corporate big-wigs, actively lobbied for a seat on the new congressional committee tasked with overseeing the Trump administration’s handling of a multi-trillion-dollar coronavirus bailout fund.
But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has instead decided to appoint her friend Rep. Donna Shalala (D-Fla.), a freshman with ties to corporations that will likely receive taxpayer bailout money, to fill the role — despite her reported lack of interest in the job.
As The American Prospect’s David Dayen wrote Saturday after Pelosi announced her selection for the spot on the Congressional Oversight Commission, Shalala — unlike Porter — “has no expertise in the financial industry or the Fed.”
“The two committees that would prepare you for this position are Financial Services and Oversight (Porter sits on both),” Dayen noted. “Shalala sits on Education and Labor and Rules. She’s on the early childhood education subcommittee, so if that ever comes up in discussing the Fed’s corporate bond or high-yield ETF purchases we’re in good shape.”
“These are deliberately complex programs that require for oversight someone with a passing familiarity with the financial system and corporate America,” added Dayen, who said Shalala’s appointment “makes a mockery” of the oversight panel.
Particularly troubling are Shalala’s connections to companies that are well-positioned to benefit from the massive bailout fund established by the CARES Act, which President Donald Trump signed into law last month. Dayen ran through Shalala’s long list of corporate ties:
In Shalala’s most recent financial disclosure, dated May 2019, she lists share ownership in an array of companies that will be at the front of the line for a bailout. She holds shares in Boeing, as well as Alaska Airlines and Spirit Aerosystems, which builds a lot of pieces of Boeing aircraft. She owns Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Royal Dutch Shell, and Occidental Petroleum at a time of a historic crash in oil prices. She owns entertainment stock in Paramount, Live Nation, and AMC Theaters, the latter almost certainly headed to bankruptcy. She owns Choice Hotels; nobody’s staying in hotels. She owns TripAdvisor; nobody’s taking trips. She owns retailers and retail producers Ralph Lauren, L Brands, Burlington Stores, and Five Below; retail’s in trouble (she’s also got Walmart, so she’s OK there). She owns big banks JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of New York Mellon, BBVA Compass, and HSBC.
Others also raised alarm at Pelosi’s selection of Shalala over Porter for the five-member oversight committee.
“The reason not to have Katie Porter do this job is so that the job doesn’t get done,” tweeted The Intercept’s Ryan Grim.
Jesse Eisinger, senior reporter at ProPublica, called Pelosi’s appointment of Shalala “mind-bogglingly outrageous.”
“She has millions of dollars of stock in companies that will benefit from no-questions-asked, no-strings-attached Fed support,” Eisinger tweeted.
Pelosi’s appt of Donna Shalala to the Corona oversight panel is mind-bogglingly outrageous. She has millions of dollars of stock in companies that will benefit from no-questions-asked, no-strings-attached Fed support. @ddayen is excellent here:https://t.co/Rqh2hI8Ext — Jesse Eisinger (@eisingerj) April 19, 2020
Republican congressional leaders also announced their picks for the oversight panel on Friday.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) selected Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Penn.), a friend of the Koch network and U.S. Chamber of Commerce, while House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) chose Rep. French Hill (R-Ark.). The final member must be agreed upon by McConnell and Pelosi.
The three newest members of the committee will join Bharat Ramamurti, who was selected for the role by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). Ramamurti, as Common Dreams reported, has thus far been outspoken about the need for transparency in how the bailout funds are being distributed by the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department.
“The public deserves to know which companies are receiving taxpayer-backed lending through the Fed and on what terms, and to be able to monitor what those companies do after receiving taxpayer support,” Ramamurti wrote in a letter to Fed Chair Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin last week.
Following Ramamurti’s letter, the Fed announced on Friday that it plans to publicly disclose some information about companies seeking taxpayer bailout money.
“I’m glad the Fed is now working on a plan to publish transactions that use taxpayer-backed funds,” Ramamurti tweeted. “But the Fed needs to provide all the information I requested in my letter yesterday if it’s truly going to provide the information the public deserves.”
Tired of reading the same old news from the same old sources? So are we! That’s why we’re on a mission to shake things up and bring you the stories and perspectives that often go untold in mainstream media. But being a radically, unapologetically independent news site isn’t easy (or cheap), and we rely on reader support to keep the lights on.
If you like what you’re reading, please consider making a tax-deductible donation today. We’re not asking for a handout, we’re asking for an investment: Invest in a nonprofit news site that’s not afraid to ruffle a few feathers, not afraid to stand up for what’s right, and not afraid to tell it like it is.
This piece was reprinted by Truthout with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.


truthout--2020-04-20--Trump’s Praise for Astroturf Protests Is a Divisive Reelection Strategy

President Trump ’ s daily coronavirus briefing rallies aren ’ t even attempting to be relevant to the ongoing pandemic anymore .
To the extent it even comes up , it ’ s entirely Trump bragging about anything that ’ s gone right and blaming others for everything that ’ s gone wrong .
If you want to know the latest information about the emergency , you ’ ll need to look elsewhere .
These are Trump campaign rallies done for the strict purpose of energizing his base .
If you ’ re reading this , you have probably read @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the overwhelming failure of the Trump administration in this crisis .
Just this weekend we learned that CDC officials were actually embedded with the World Health Organization in January and repeatedly alerted the U.S. government about the coronavirus outbreak , which completely undermines Trump ’ s attack on the organization .
Unfortunately , the foot-dragging and the errors continue .
The testing that everyone but Trump acknowledges must be in place before the economy can come back to life is still not available .
Hospitals and first responders are still in dire need @ @ @ @ @ @ @ If the Trump administration pushes people back out of their homes prematurely , there ’ s an excellent chance we ’ ll have another outbreak well before we ’ ve recovered from the first one .
It ’ s now obvious that will happen , at least in some places .
In Jacksonville , Florida , officials opened the beaches and people flooded back out , with no masks and in close quarters .
All over the country there have been small but vocal protests during the last few days , demanding that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Salon ’ s Sophia Tesfaye has reported , these “ protests ” are actually organized by astroturf groups modeled on the Tea Party protests more than a decade ago : Pro-gun activists have gotten in on the act as well .
It ’ s an astroturf Tea Party reunion tour .
If there ’ s one thing that riles up the right wing , it ’ s apparently the government trying to save lives .
Trump has personally praised the protesters , as has Vice President Pence , even as they both pretend @ @ @ @ @ @ @ opening up the country .
All of this seems odd , considering that common sense and all legitimate scientific advice says that prematurely letting our guard down will likely lead to a resurgence of the epidemic , which means shutting down the economy all over again , with even worse consequences .
But there ’ s a method to their actions .
As chaotic and dysfunctional as they are at governing , Trump and the Republicans are united on their electoral strategy .
They ’ ve decided that opening up the economy as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ re-election .
According to Politico , conservatives are still convinced that a highly divisive strategy focused entirely on their base voters divisive , is the way to go , even in the midst of an unprecedented public health crisis : Yes , that would be the same FreedomWorks that is ginning up the protests , along with the other big money groups financed by the likes of Charles Koch .
Big-money donors seem to have activated their astroturf groups to get people out in the streets to make sure that Trump feels the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ up the economy .
These donors care about preserving their power , privilege and profit margins , but Trump only cares about the November election .
They are manipulating him , and his supporters , to make him believe that his ends are aligned with theirs .
Republicans in Congress are doing their part as well .
The bill coming up for a vote this week to refill the small-business bailout fund is missing something vital that Democrats and governors of both parties have been begging for : help for state and local @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dire economic trouble and hamstrung by balanced-budget requirements .
You might think that providing them with federal funds to keep the lights on would be a no-brainer .
But according to Axios , Republicans will use this prospect as a cudgel to force states to reopen : “ The thinking among some Trump administration officials is that many states should be reopening their governments soon and that additional funding could deter them from doing so.
” If anyone thinks that depriving aid won ’ t hurt Trump ’ s political enemies more than @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t understand how he plays this game .
( There ’ s already evidence that more federal aid has gone to red states . )
This may end up being the most destructive thing Trump has done , at least in economic terms .
Reality is finding its way into the public consciousness , however .
Maybe it ’ s the growing pile of dead bodies — more than 40,000 of them as of Sunday night — or Trump ’ s increasingly unhinged behavior at these coronavirus briefings , but recent polling shows @ @ @ @ @ @ @ support has already dissipated .
Gallup has Trump ’ s approval rating down to 43 % , from 49 % last month , while his disapproval rating is up nine points , to 54 % .
The latest NBC-Wall Street Journal poll reports that 60 % of respondents say that Trump did not take “ the threat seriously at the beginning , ” with a similar number in the Pew poll saying that Trump was “ too slow ” to recognize the threat .
His overall approval average is headed back down to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s been throughout his entire term .
So it ’ s almost certainly true that the “ base strategy ” is the Trump campaign ’ s best bet .
They will try to run the table again in the swing states and pull off another narrow Electoral College victory .
Maybe he ’ ll be the luckiest politician in history and can make that work in the middle of an epic public health emergency that he has botched beyond all measure .
Meanwhile , the country is fracturing in ways I would never @ @ @ @

Trump and the Republicans have decided that opening up the economy as soon as possible is their ticket to reelection.
President Trump’s daily coronavirus briefing rallies aren’t even attempting to be relevant to the ongoing pandemic anymore. To the extent it even comes up, it’s entirely Trump bragging about anything that’s gone right and blaming others for everything that’s gone wrong. If you want to know the latest information about the emergency, you’ll need to look elsewhere. These are Trump campaign rallies done for the strict purpose of energizing his base.
If you’re reading this, you have probably read and heard vast amounts of reporting revealing the overwhelming failure of the Trump administration in this crisis. Just this weekend we learned that CDC officials were actually embedded with the World Health Organization in January and repeatedly alerted the U.S. government about the coronavirus outbreak, which completely undermines Trump’s attack on the organization.
Unfortunately, the foot-dragging and the errors continue. The testing that everyone but Trump acknowledges must be in place before the economy can come back to life is still not available. Hospitals and first responders are still in dire need of medical equipment and protective gear. If the Trump administration pushes people back out of their homes prematurely, there’s an excellent chance we’ll have another outbreak well before we’ve recovered from the first one.
It’s now obvious that will happen, at least in some places. In Jacksonville, Florida, officials opened the beaches and people flooded back out, with no masks and in close quarters. All over the country there have been small but vocal protests during the last few days, demanding that governors open their states immediately.
As Salon’s Sophia Tesfaye has reported, these “protests” are actually organized by astroturf groups modeled on the Tea Party protests more than a decade ago:
FreedomWorks, the instrumental force behind the Tea Party, “is holding weekly virtual town halls with members of Congress, igniting an activist base of thousands of supporters across the nation to back up the effort” led by right-wing commentator Stephen Moore. the Associated Press reported . Other right-wing groups vocally opposing shutdowns include Americans for Prosperity, an organization funded by the Koch brothers, and the conservative Heritage Foundation. There is even a connection to the family of Trump’s Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos. As Michigan’s governor noted, the DeVos family foundation helped fund Facebook ads for this week’s protest.
Pro-gun activists have gotten in on the act as well. It’s an astroturf Tea Party reunion tour. If there’s one thing that riles up the right wing, it’s apparently the government trying to save lives.
‘There’s no pandemic…Media’s the cancer’ — People across the U.S., many of whom are vocal Trump supporters, are protesting stay-at-home orders. COVID-19 has killed more than 37,000 people in America within the last 7 weeks. pic.twitter.com/2xtbPXfjz9 — NowThis (@nowthisnews) April 19, 2020
Trump has personally praised the protesters, as has Vice President Pence, even as they both pretend to care about their new guidelines for opening up the country.
All of this seems odd, considering that common sense and all legitimate scientific advice says that prematurely letting our guard down will likely lead to a resurgence of the epidemic, which means shutting down the economy all over again, with even worse consequences. But there’s a method to their actions. As chaotic and dysfunctional as they are at governing, Trump and the Republicans are united on their electoral strategy. They’ve decided that opening up the economy as soon as possible is their ticket to re-election.
According to Politico, conservatives are still convinced that a highly divisive strategy focused entirely on their base voters divisive, is the way to go, even in the midst of an unprecedented public health crisis:
Trump-supported activists are protesting strict stay-at-home orders. Conservative groups’ internal polling in red-leaning and swing states show a significant uptick in Americans who favor reopening the country. A growing chorus of Republican lawmakers across the nation are on board. “If you don’t see something start to happen … you’re going to see a conservative revolt by our base,” said Adam Brandon, president of FreedomWorks, a conservative group which recently polled on reopening the economy. “The worst strategy for him is to keep things shut until August. Trump is basically going to win or lose his election right now, in the next month.”
Yes, that would be the same FreedomWorks that is ginning up the protests, along with the other big money groups financed by the likes of Charles Koch. Big-money donors seem to have activated their astroturf groups to get people out in the streets to make sure that Trump feels the pressure from his beloved base to open up the economy. These donors care about preserving their power, privilege and profit margins, but Trump only cares about the November election. They are manipulating him, and his supporters, to make him believe that his ends are aligned with theirs.
Republicans in Congress are doing their part as well. The bill coming up for a vote this week to refill the small-business bailout fund is missing something vital that Democrats and governors of both parties have been begging for: help for state and local governments, many of which are in dire economic trouble and hamstrung by balanced-budget requirements.
You might think that providing them with federal funds to keep the lights on would be a no-brainer. But according to Axios, Republicans will use this prospect as a cudgel to force states to reopen: “The thinking among some Trump administration officials is that many states should be reopening their governments soon and that additional funding could deter them from doing so.”
If anyone thinks that depriving aid won’t hurt Trump’s political enemies more than his allies, they still don’t understand how he plays this game. (There’s already evidence that more federal aid has gone to red states.) This may end up being the most destructive thing Trump has done, at least in economic terms.
Reality is finding its way into the public consciousness, however. Maybe it’s the growing pile of dead bodies — more than 40,000 of them as of Sunday night — or Trump’s increasingly unhinged behavior at these coronavirus briefings, but recent polling shows that Trump’s rally-round-the-flag bump in support has already dissipated. Gallup has Trump’s approval rating down to 43%, from 49% last month, while his disapproval rating is up nine points, to 54%. The latest NBC-Wall Street Journal poll reports that 60% of respondents say that Trump did not take “the threat seriously at the beginning,” with a similar number in the Pew poll saying that Trump was “too slow” to recognize the threat. His overall approval average is headed back down to the low 40s, where it’s been throughout his entire term.
So it’s almost certainly true that the “base strategy” is the Trump campaign’s best bet. They will try to run the table again in the swing states and pull off another narrow Electoral College victory. Maybe he’ll be the luckiest politician in history and can make that work in the middle of an epic public health emergency that he has botched beyond all measure.
Meanwhile, the country is fracturing in ways I would never have believed possible.
Two nurses, who have witnessed first hand the toll Covid is taking in Colorado, stood up and peacefully counter protested. Here is how they were treated. I had join them. pic.twitter.com/iJnNcqZxSv — Marc Zenn (@MarcZenn) April 19, 2020
With doctors and nurses and first responders literally dying trying to save people every day, and all of us just trying to get through this nightmare, Republicans have cynically unleashed the same vicious ugliness we saw during the “Obamacare” debates a decade ago. Dividing the country at a time like this is one of the worst things the Republican Party has ever done. How do these people sleep at night?
Tired of reading the same old news from the same old sources? So are we! That’s why we’re on a mission to shake things up and bring you the stories and perspectives that often go untold in mainstream media. But being a radically, unapologetically independent news site isn’t easy (or cheap), and we rely on reader support to keep the lights on.
If you like what you’re reading, please consider making a tax-deductible donation today. We’re not asking for a handout, we’re asking for an investment: Invest in a nonprofit news site that’s not afraid to ruffle a few feathers, not afraid to stand up for what’s right, and not afraid to tell it like it is.
This piece was reprinted by Truthout with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.


truthout--2020-04-20--Lifting Stay-in-Place Rules Won’t Fix Economy If Virus Still Rages, Fauci Says

A number of protests across the country took place over the weekend , in which participants argued against stay-in-place orders meant to slow the spread of the coronavirus , and in favor of “ reopening the economy ” as pushed by President Donald Trump .
Such calls for a quick “ reopening ” contradict what health experts have said is feasible at this time , particularly because there aren ’ t enough testing kits across the nation to determine which states are able to move in that direction .
Asked on Monday morning about the issue of ending stay-in-place orders @ @ @ @ @ @ @ National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a member of Trump ’ s coronavirus task force , suggested that even if social distancing standards were relaxed , it wouldn ’ t restore the health of the economy as some protesters have implied it would .
Asked by “ Good Morning America ” host George Stephanopoulos to respond to the protests , Fauci tried to show sympathy for their cause while also noting how their goals couldn ’ t be achieved without controlling the virus first .
“ The message is that clearly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from the standpoint of economics and the standpoint of things that have nothing to do with the virus .
But unless we get the virus under control , the real recovery economically is not going to happen , ” Fauci said .
“ Reopening the economy ” came with risks , Fauci said , and little possibility of big rewards .
“ If you jump the gun , and you go into a situation where you have a big spike , you ’ re going to set yourself back , ” Fauci explained @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is to go by the careful guidelines of gradually phasing into a reopening , it ’ s going to backfire if you don ’ t. ” The push to end stay-in-place orders issued out by most state governors is one that has the apparent approval of the Trump administration — Trump himself urged several citizens last week to “ liberate ” their states from such orders , in defiance of his own recommendations on how to transition — but it ’ s a cause that even a number of economists say isn ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ New York Times opinion columnist Paul Krugman wrote last week that economists tend to listen to experts from other fields of study rather than rely on their own instincts alone .
“ Serious economists know what they don ’ t know — they recognize and respect experts from other disciplines , ” he wrote , adding that , in his opinion , the push to “ reopen ” the economy is coming from “ cranks and cronies.
” Trump may in fact be motivated by other factors , including political ones , in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Sources with knowledge of the president ’ s thoughts and conversations in recent weeks have described how Trump is eager to “ reopen ” things in order to still appear strong politically on the issue of the economy in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election .
But Americans overall are skeptical about prematurely ending stay-in-place orders .
According to a recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll , 58 percent of Americans are concerned that efforts to “ reopen the economy ” might be too fast , while only 32 percent believe the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ may be too slow in coming about .

Part of the Series Despair and Disparity: The Uneven Burdens of COVID-19
A number of protests across the country took place over the weekend, in which participants argued against stay-in-place orders meant to slow the spread of the coronavirus, and in favor of “reopening the economy” as pushed by President Donald Trump.
Such calls for a quick “reopening” contradict what health experts have said is feasible at this time, particularly because there aren’t enough testing kits across the nation to determine which states are able to move in that direction.
Asked on Monday morning about the issue of ending stay-in-place orders, Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a member of Trump’s coronavirus task force, suggested that even if social distancing standards were relaxed, it wouldn’t restore the health of the economy as some protesters have implied it would.
Asked by “Good Morning America” host George Stephanopoulos to respond to the protests, Fauci tried to show sympathy for their cause while also noting how their goals couldn’t be achieved without controlling the virus first.
“The message is that clearly this is something that is hurting, from the standpoint of economics and the standpoint of things that have nothing to do with the virus. But unless we get the virus under control, the real recovery economically is not going to happen,” Fauci said.
NEW: Reopening the country too soon could backfire and cause a spike in cases and deaths, says Dr. Anthony Fauci on @GMA pic.twitter.com/PFNW4t2AIo #COVID19 #coronavirus — Steve Grzanich (@SteveGrzanich) April 20, 2020
“Reopening the economy” came with risks, Fauci said, and little possibility of big rewards.
“If you jump the gun, and you go into a situation where you have a big spike, you’re going to set yourself back,” Fauci explained. “So as painful as it is to go by the careful guidelines of gradually phasing into a reopening, it’s going to backfire if you don’t.”
The push to end stay-in-place orders issued out by most state governors is one that has the apparent approval of the Trump administration — Trump himself urged several citizens last week to “liberate” their states from such orders, in defiance of his own recommendations on how to transition — but it’s a cause that even a number of economists say isn’t a good idea to pursue.
New York Times opinion columnist Paul Krugman wrote last week that economists tend to listen to experts from other fields of study rather than rely on their own instincts alone.
“Serious economists know what they don’t know — they recognize and respect experts from other disciplines,” he wrote, adding that, in his opinion, the push to “reopen” the economy is coming from “cranks and cronies.”
Trump may in fact be motivated by other factors, including political ones, in his push to end stay-in-place orders. Sources with knowledge of the president’s thoughts and conversations in recent weeks have described how Trump is eager to “reopen” things in order to still appear strong politically on the issue of the economy in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election.
But Americans overall are skeptical about prematurely ending stay-in-place orders. According to a recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, 58 percent of Americans are concerned that efforts to “reopen the economy” might be too fast, while only 32 percent believe the opposite, that efforts to do so may be too slow in coming about.
Tired of reading the same old news from the same old sources? So are we! That’s why we’re on a mission to shake things up and bring you the stories and perspectives that often go untold in mainstream media. But being a radically, unapologetically independent news site isn’t easy (or cheap), and we rely on reader support to keep the lights on.
If you like what you’re reading, please consider making a tax-deductible donation today. We’re not asking for a handout, we’re asking for an investment: Invest in a nonprofit news site that’s not afraid to ruffle a few feathers, not afraid to stand up for what’s right, and not afraid to tell it like it is.
Copyright © Truthout. May not be reprinted without permission.


truthout--2020-04-20--Millions of Essential Workers Are Being Left Out of COVID-19 Safety Protections

As news emerged that the novel coronavirus was infecting hundreds of workers in meatpacking plants , Gregoria Rivas began worrying that her chicken processing facility in North Carolina wasn ’ t doing enough to protect workers like her from the virus .
There was no social distancing , she said .
Everywhere she went at the Case Farms plant , there were dozens of workers crowded into a small space .
In the locker room , where everyone put on their uniforms .
On the cutting line , where she spent eight hours slicing chicken breasts .
In the cafeteria @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , when workers lined up to use the bathroom .
“ I tried to bring my own face mask that I had bought at the pharmacy , but they wouldn ’ t let me wear it , ” said Rivas , 31 .
“ When they wouldn ’ t let me wear my own mask , I went to the nurse ’ s station at the plant , and they said there were no masks available.
” ( Mike Popowycz , vice chairman of Case Farms , said it ’ s taking the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ taken several measures to protect workers . )
So Rivas said she called the state ’ s Department of Labor with the help of a local worker ’ s center .
Rivas is far from alone .
Nearly 4,000 workers from across the country have gone to the federal agency that polices worker health and safety with concerns that their employers haven ’ t done enough to protect them from the coronavirus as of April 3 , according to records obtained in a Freedom of Information Act request from the U.S. Occupational Safety @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the complaints to OSHA came from the health care industry , from workers on the front lines of providing COVID-19 care .
Another 72 % came from other types of employees , with large quantities from manufacturing and retail workers , with the remainder listed as unknown .
Even as OSHA has been inundated with COVID-19-related complaints , the agency has issued a series of guidelines that roll back safety standards and virtually eliminate non-health care workers from government protection .
That poses a serious risk to millions of essential workers , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ advocates say .
Dozens of workers , including meat cutters , supermarket greeters , airport screeners and bus drivers have died as the disease has spread .
And it raises significant questions as President Donald Trump and several governors lay out plans to reopen the economy .
“ Workers are getting sick and dying , and the government agency that they have turned to for 40 years to protect them from everything from chemicals in the workplace to unguarded machines to the H1N1 pandemic has said , ‘ Sorry , you ’ re @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Debbie Berkowitz , a former top OSHA policy adviser now at the worker-oriented National Employment Law Project .
A spokesperson for the Department of Labor , OSHA ’ s parent agency , said in a statement : “ Since the emergence of COVID-19 , OSHA is taking swift and decisive action to protect workers in high-risk industries.
” The statement continued : “ OSHA has a number of tools it can use to protect workers from workplace hazards caused by COVID-19 .
… However , OSHA is providing enforcement discretion to help employers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ times the pandemic has created and to help ensure that PPE [ personal protective equipment ] is available in workplaces — including healthcare facilities — where it is needed most.
” The government has received a raft of complaints from non-medical workers in an array of non-medical industries .
More than a dozen employees at an Intel computer chip fabrication plant in Oregon filed reports with the state worker protection agency saying they weren ’ t able to maintain a 6-foot distance from their co-workers .
“ You have to be literally 2 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ body , ” said Brent Macias , one of the employees who filed a complaint and developed coronavirus symptoms .
A spokesperson for Intel said the company is taking steps to implement social distancing at its manufacturing sites , such as staggering shift changes and limiting activities that require close proximity .
In Florida , 35 fast food workers at the Orlando airport filed a complaint with the federal OSHA claiming that their employer , HMSHost , sometimes failed to offer hot water to wash their hands and provided them with little protective @ @ @ @ @ @ @ us , ” said Maria Gonzalez , a cashier who made $ 11.21 an hour before being furloughed in late March .
“ They were not doing anything — no training , no gloves , no masks , no hand sanitizer — pretty much nothing to protect us.
” At least one HMSHost employee at the airport has tested positive for COVID-19 , according to a union organizer who spoke with the ill worker .
( Spokeswoman Sheila Bliss said HMSHost has implemented protective and safety measures that go beyond recommendations by the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ Our associates and travelers remain our greatest concern and we will take all recommended measures to protect them , ” she said . )
Over the past two weeks , OSHA and the CDC have issued a series of guidelines and directives that have weakened protections for front-line workers outside the medical field .
For example , the CDC released guidance on April 8 that critical workers who ’ d been exposed to the coronavirus could return to work as long as they don ’ t have any symptoms and wear a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ just three days earlier from the government ’ s top infectious disease expert , Dr. Anthony Fauci , that 25 % to 50 % of the people with the virus may be asymptomatic .
( Everyone else who has been exposed is advised to self-quarantine for 14 days . )
This was followed by directives from OSHA .
Last Friday , the agency announced that it would not require employers outside health care , emergency response or corrections to investigate whether COVID-19 cases among employees are work-related unless multiple people in the same @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , OSHA issued an enforcement directive detailing its approach to handling COVID-19 complaints .
Medical workers , who have been heavily affected by the virus , have been prioritized .
At least 88 U.S. health care workers have died from COVID-19 , according to an unofficial list kept by the website Medscape .
But OSHA said it would not formally handle any complaints about the coronavirus from other essential workers .
Instead , the agency will send a letter to the employer , which then has five business days to notify the agency @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The memo notes that these complaints “ will not normally result in an on-site inspection.
” The agency said it would “ consider ” an inspection if it believes the response is inadequate .
“ It totally excludes everybody but health care , ” said David Michaels , former OSHA director in the Obama administration .
“ Everyone else is told that there is nothing that OSHA could do.
” But Ed Foulke , who oversaw OSHA from 2006 to 2008 , said the agency is correct to establish priorities when there @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from home .
“ This is an unprecedented event and the reasonable approach is to say , ‘ Where is the greatest need ?
’ ” he said .
“ OSHA clearly cares ” about non-medical workers , Foulke said .
“ An inspector can ’ t be sent out for every complaint .
You can ’ t do it .
You have to be realistic.
” Still , the Trump administration ’ s approach differs from how other infectious diseases have been handled in the past , from the hepatitis B outbreak @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the 1980s to H1N1 and the Ebola virus in more recent years , according to longtime industry professionals .
In each of those cases , OSHA issued more forceful enforcement guidance and carried a stronger public presence .
Now , the agency isn ’ t even on the White House Coronavirus Task Force .
For example , during the H1N1 flu pandemic in 2009 , OSHA took additional steps to safeguard worker health , including issuing a directive that required employers to abide by CDC guidance .
By contrast , OSHA ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ CDC guidance and grants them latitude to use discretion even when an employer ’ s measures are not as protective as what the CDC recommends .
In addition , during H1N1 , OSHA laid out specific scenarios that could result in violations under the general duty standard , detailing the nitty-gritty of sneeze guards and the setup of “ airborne infection isolation rooms.
” Today , the Trump administration provides no such guidance for inspectors ; in fact , it emphasizes the high legal bar for inspectors to cite employers under the standard @ @ @ @ @ @ @ make it much more difficult to issue citations , ” Michaels said .
“ It gives the employers certain outs as to why they ’ re not following CDC guidelines.
” There have been no inspections resulting from COVID-19 complaints , said one OSHA employee — at least not in the OSHA region the employee works in .
The OSHA staffer added that the agency could be more proactive in its response to these complaints .
“ It seems a lot of it is providing workers with information but not trying to address @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” the employee said .
“ We should be more forceful and direct in our interactions with the employer.
” The OSHA employee asked to remain anonymous because the worker is not authorized to speak with reporters .
OSHA is limited in how it can respond because it doesn ’ t have a regulation it can enforce that ’ s directly related to airborne infectious diseases .
( OSHA notes that there are eight regulations that may apply to coronavirus , including provisions related to hand-washing , personal protective equipment and an employer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ safe workplace . )
But there are ways OSHA could have been more active , former agency officials and worker advocates say .
For example , an infectious disease standard was being drafted , but was never completed , during the Obama administration .
It was shelved when Trump took office , according to federal rule-making documents .
In late January , as the coronavirus was spreading in China and beginning to arrive in the United States , Democratic congressional aides met with Department of Labor staff to urge them to issue a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ protect health care workers .
Such a standard could easily be adapted to confront COVID-19 , but Labor Department leaders questioned the need , a congressional aide who was at the meeting said .
“ There wasn ’ t a whole lot of consciousness about what was going to be coming down the line , ” the aide said .
“ I think they weren ’ t taking the disease seriously and they certainly weren ’ t interested in enforcing.
” As COVID-19 cases began to multiply in early March , unions petitioned @ @ @ @ @ @ @ emergency standard for health workers .
And House Democrats began drafting language to insert into a coronavirus response bill that was rapidly working its way through Congress .
The legislation would have required health care employers to implement an infectious disease exposure control plan .
But the American Hospital Association said the provision would be “ impossible to implement ” because of the shortage of N95 respirator masks and would dramatically reduce the number of patients hospitals could treat .
Congress stripped it from the bill .
Meanwhile , as America ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about the shortage of safety gear , OSHA started issuing the first of several directives , rolling back standards intended to protect doctors and nurses .
In mid-March , the agency suspended annual fit testing for N95 masks in an effort to conserve equipment .
As recorded cases reached the thousands , it issued a packet of tips for employers but emphasized that its recommendations were not enforceable .
In early April , as the supply shortage became ever more critical , OSHA relaxed other rules , allowing for the extended use and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in other countries .
“ Some of these , you are dealing with a crisis situation , they are moving to address the lack of equipment , ” said Peg Seminario , former health and safety director of the AFL-CIO .
“ But every one of these is rolling back existing protections and requirements .
It ’ s not putting out something new or more.
” The agency has been diminished in resources and leadership under the Trump administration , and former OSHA officials say that has dulled the agency ’ s response @ @ @ @ @ @ @ deal with this virus is made even weaker by a lack of resources because the Trump administration has shrunk the agency to the point that they have no ability to respond , ” said Berkowitz .
At the start of the year , OSHA had 862 federal inspectors , the lowest number in the agency ’ s history , according to data NELP obtained from the agency .
With OSHA playing a passive role , some governors have issued their own worker-safety mandates .
On Sunday , New York Gov .
Andrew Cuomo @ @ @ @ @ @ @ provide essential workers with masks to wear when they interact with the public .
New Jersey Gov .
Phil Murphy went further , ordering retail businesses to cut their maximum occupancy in half and install barriers between workers and customers .
Twenty-two states run their own occupational health and safety agencies for public and private workers , with federal approval , which are required to match or exceed federal regulations and directives .
Some of them appear to be taking a more aggressive approach .
In Oregon , where there have been nearly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a dozen inspections have been conducted across a variety of industries .
The state agency is also conducting “ spot checks ” to ensure that employers who received and sent letters in response to a complaint are following through .
But a patchwork approach to keeping workers safe might not bode well for the plans to reopen businesses .
In recent days , many of the largest outbreaks have been at work , highlighted by the spread of the disease to more than 600 workers at Smithfield Foods ’ pork processing plant in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ could raise the prospect of the disease reigniting if more precautions aren ’ t taken , according to public health experts .
“ Until there ’ s a real discussion about how workers beyond hospitals are going to be protected , ” Michaels said , “ I don ’ t see how we can be talking about bringing workers back.
” And that discussion could mean a lot for workers like Gregoria Rivas .
In North Carolina , Rivas said she received little help from the state ’ s OSHA when she called @ @ @ @ @ @ @ spread of COVID-19 at Case Farms .
On the other end of the phone line , Rivas said , an inspector took down her complaint but told her there wasn ’ t much the agency could do because it doesn ’ t have specific regulations for infectious diseases .
The agency had made recommendations to businesses , but it had no power to enforce them , the inspector said .
Discouraged by the response , Rivas , who has a 2-year-old son and 8-year-old daughter , decided to quit rather than risk infection @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to receive some answers that would reassure me , ” she said .
“ But from what I understood , it didn ’ t matter what was happening , whether it ’ s a pandemic or not , the plant was going to continue working as normal.
” Do you have access to information about how the government is protecting — or not protecting — essential workers from the coronavirus that should be public ?
Email [ email protected ] .
Here ’ s how to send tips and documents to ProPublica securely @

Even as the U.S.’s federal worker-safety agency has been inundated with complaints, it has rolled back safety standards.
As news emerged that the novel coronavirus was infecting hundreds of workers in meatpacking plants, Gregoria Rivas began worrying that her chicken processing facility in North Carolina wasn’t doing enough to protect workers like her from the virus.
There was no social distancing, she said. Everywhere she went at the Case Farms plant, there were dozens of workers crowded into a small space. In the locker room, where everyone put on their uniforms. On the cutting line, where she spent eight hours slicing chicken breasts. In the cafeteria during lunch. Even at break time, when workers lined up to use the bathroom.
“I tried to bring my own face mask that I had bought at the pharmacy, but they wouldn’t let me wear it,” said Rivas, 31. “When they wouldn’t let me wear my own mask, I went to the nurse’s station at the plant, and they said there were no masks available.” (Mike Popowycz, vice chairman of Case Farms, said it’s taking the pandemic “very seriously” and has taken several measures to protect workers.)
So Rivas said she called the state’s Department of Labor with the help of a local worker’s center.
Rivas is far from alone. Nearly 4,000 workers from across the country have gone to the federal agency that polices worker health and safety with concerns that their employers haven’t done enough to protect them from the coronavirus as of April 3, according to records obtained in a Freedom of Information Act request from the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Some 27% of the complaints to OSHA came from the health care industry, from workers on the front lines of providing COVID-19 care. Another 72% came from other types of employees, with large quantities from manufacturing and retail workers, with the remainder listed as unknown.
Even as OSHA has been inundated with COVID-19-related complaints, the agency has issued a series of guidelines that roll back safety standards and virtually eliminate non-health care workers from government protection.
That poses a serious risk to millions of essential workers, many of whom live paycheck-to-paycheck, safety advocates say. Dozens of workers, including meat cutters, supermarket greeters, airport screeners and bus drivers have died as the disease has spread.
And it raises significant questions as President Donald Trump and several governors lay out plans to reopen the economy.
“Workers are getting sick and dying, and the government agency that they have turned to for 40 years to protect them from everything from chemicals in the workplace to unguarded machines to the H1N1 pandemic has said, ‘Sorry, you’re on your own,’” said Debbie Berkowitz, a former top OSHA policy adviser now at the worker-oriented National Employment Law Project.
A spokesperson for the Department of Labor, OSHA’s parent agency, said in a statement: “Since the emergence of COVID-19, OSHA is taking swift and decisive action to protect workers in high-risk industries.” The statement continued: “OSHA has a number of tools it can use to protect workers from workplace hazards caused by COVID-19. … However, OSHA is providing enforcement discretion to help employers comply with OSHA requirements during the challenging times the pandemic has created and to help ensure that PPE [personal protective equipment] is available in workplaces — including healthcare facilities — where it is needed most.”
The government has received a raft of complaints from non-medical workers in an array of non-medical industries.
More than a dozen employees at an Intel computer chip fabrication plant in Oregon filed reports with the state worker protection agency saying they weren’t able to maintain a 6-foot distance from their co-workers. “You have to be literally 2 inches from someone’s face or body,” said Brent Macias, one of the employees who filed a complaint and developed coronavirus symptoms. A spokesperson for Intel said the company is taking steps to implement social distancing at its manufacturing sites, such as staggering shift changes and limiting activities that require close proximity.
In Florida, 35 fast food workers at the Orlando airport filed a complaint with the federal OSHA claiming that their employer, HMSHost, sometimes failed to offer hot water to wash their hands and provided them with little protective gear. “They were not helping us,” said Maria Gonzalez, a cashier who made $11.21 an hour before being furloughed in late March. “They were not doing anything — no training, no gloves, no masks, no hand sanitizer — pretty much nothing to protect us.” At least one HMSHost employee at the airport has tested positive for COVID-19, according to a union organizer who spoke with the ill worker. (Spokeswoman Sheila Bliss said HMSHost has implemented protective and safety measures that go beyond recommendations by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Our associates and travelers remain our greatest concern and we will take all recommended measures to protect them,” she said.)
Over the past two weeks, OSHA and the CDC have issued a series of guidelines and directives that have weakened protections for front-line workers outside the medical field. For example, the CDC released guidance on April 8 that critical workers who’d been exposed to the coronavirus could return to work as long as they don’t have any symptoms and wear a mask. The guidance came despite comments just three days earlier from the government’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, that 25% to 50% of the people with the virus may be asymptomatic. (Everyone else who has been exposed is advised to self-quarantine for 14 days.)
This was followed by directives from OSHA. Last Friday, the agency announced that it would not require employers outside health care, emergency response or corrections to investigate whether COVID-19 cases among employees are work-related unless multiple people in the same vicinity get sick.
Then on Monday, OSHA issued an enforcement directive detailing its approach to handling COVID-19 complaints. Medical workers, who have been heavily affected by the virus, have been prioritized. At least 88 U.S. health care workers have died from COVID-19, according to an unofficial list kept by the website Medscape.
But OSHA said it would not formally handle any complaints about the coronavirus from other essential workers. Instead, the agency will send a letter to the employer, which then has five business days to notify the agency about how it has addressed the complaint. The memo notes that these complaints “will not normally result in an on-site inspection.” The agency said it would “consider” an inspection if it believes the response is inadequate.
“It totally excludes everybody but health care,” said David Michaels, former OSHA director in the Obama administration. “Everyone else is told that there is nothing that OSHA could do.”
But Ed Foulke, who oversaw OSHA from 2006 to 2008, said the agency is correct to establish priorities when there are limited resources and inspectors are working from home. “This is an unprecedented event and the reasonable approach is to say, ‘Where is the greatest need?’” he said.
“OSHA clearly cares” about non-medical workers, Foulke said. “An inspector can’t be sent out for every complaint. You can’t do it. You have to be realistic.”
Still, the Trump administration’s approach differs from how other infectious diseases have been handled in the past, from the hepatitis B outbreak in hospitals and the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s to H1N1 and the Ebola virus in more recent years, according to longtime industry professionals. In each of those cases, OSHA issued more forceful enforcement guidance and carried a stronger public presence. Now, the agency isn’t even on the White House Coronavirus Task Force.
For example, during the H1N1 flu pandemic in 2009, OSHA took additional steps to safeguard worker health, including issuing a directive that required employers to abide by CDC guidance. By contrast, OSHA’s COVID-19 memo states that inspectors should consult CDC guidance and grants them latitude to use discretion even when an employer’s measures are not as protective as what the CDC recommends.
In addition, during H1N1, OSHA laid out specific scenarios that could result in violations under the general duty standard, detailing the nitty-gritty of sneeze guards and the setup of “airborne infection isolation rooms.” Today, the Trump administration provides no such guidance for inspectors; in fact, it emphasizes the high legal bar for inspectors to cite employers under the standard.
“It’s written to make it much more difficult to issue citations,” Michaels said. “It gives the employers certain outs as to why they’re not following CDC guidelines.”
There have been no inspections resulting from COVID-19 complaints, said one OSHA employee — at least not in the OSHA region the employee works in. The OSHA staffer added that the agency could be more proactive in its response to these complaints. “It seems a lot of it is providing workers with information but not trying to address the particular issues people are raising,” the employee said. “We should be more forceful and direct in our interactions with the employer.” The OSHA employee asked to remain anonymous because the worker is not authorized to speak with reporters.
OSHA is limited in how it can respond because it doesn’t have a regulation it can enforce that’s directly related to airborne infectious diseases. (OSHA notes that there are eight regulations that may apply to coronavirus, including provisions related to hand-washing, personal protective equipment and an employer’s general duty to provide a safe workplace.)
But there are ways OSHA could have been more active, former agency officials and worker advocates say.
For example, an infectious disease standard was being drafted, but was never completed, during the Obama administration. It was shelved when Trump took office, according to federal rule-making documents.
In late January, as the coronavirus was spreading in China and beginning to arrive in the United States, Democratic congressional aides met with Department of Labor staff to urge them to issue a compliance directive and temporary emergency standard to protect health care workers.
Such a standard could easily be adapted to confront COVID-19, but Labor Department leaders questioned the need, a congressional aide who was at the meeting said. “There wasn’t a whole lot of consciousness about what was going to be coming down the line,” the aide said. “I think they weren’t taking the disease seriously and they certainly weren’t interested in enforcing.”
As COVID-19 cases began to multiply in early March, unions petitioned Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia, requesting an emergency standard for health workers. And House Democrats began drafting language to insert into a coronavirus response bill that was rapidly working its way through Congress. The legislation would have required health care employers to implement an infectious disease exposure control plan. But the American Hospital Association said the provision would be “impossible to implement” because of the shortage of N95 respirator masks and would dramatically reduce the number of patients hospitals could treat. Congress stripped it from the bill.
Meanwhile, as America’s health care system began raising red flags about the shortage of safety gear, OSHA started issuing the first of several directives, rolling back standards intended to protect doctors and nurses. In mid-March, the agency suspended annual fit testing for N95 masks in an effort to conserve equipment.
As recorded cases reached the thousands, it issued a packet of tips for employers but emphasized that its recommendations were not enforceable.
In early April, as the supply shortage became ever more critical, OSHA relaxed other rules, allowing for the extended use and reuse of N95s and for respirators certified in other countries.
“Some of these, you are dealing with a crisis situation, they are moving to address the lack of equipment,” said Peg Seminario, former health and safety director of the AFL-CIO. “But every one of these is rolling back existing protections and requirements. It’s not putting out something new or more.”
The agency has been diminished in resources and leadership under the Trump administration, and former OSHA officials say that has dulled the agency’s response to COVID-19. “Their ability to deal with this virus is made even weaker by a lack of resources because the Trump administration has shrunk the agency to the point that they have no ability to respond,” said Berkowitz.
At the start of the year, OSHA had 862 federal inspectors, the lowest number in the agency’s history, according to data NELP obtained from the agency.
With OSHA playing a passive role, some governors have issued their own worker-safety mandates. On Sunday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued an executive order requiring employers to provide essential workers with masks to wear when they interact with the public. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy went further, ordering retail businesses to cut their maximum occupancy in half and install barriers between workers and customers.
Twenty-two states run their own occupational health and safety agencies for public and private workers, with federal approval, which are required to match or exceed federal regulations and directives. Some of them appear to be taking a more aggressive approach. In Oregon, where there have been nearly 2,800 COVID-19-related complaints to date, about a dozen inspections have been conducted across a variety of industries. The state agency is also conducting “spot checks” to ensure that employers who received and sent letters in response to a complaint are following through.
But a patchwork approach to keeping workers safe might not bode well for the plans to reopen businesses. In recent days, many of the largest outbreaks have been at work, highlighted by the spread of the disease to more than 600 workers at Smithfield Foods’ pork processing plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
That could raise the prospect of the disease reigniting if more precautions aren’t taken, according to public health experts. “Until there’s a real discussion about how workers beyond hospitals are going to be protected,” Michaels said, “I don’t see how we can be talking about bringing workers back.”
And that discussion could mean a lot for workers like Gregoria Rivas.
In North Carolina, Rivas said she received little help from the state’s OSHA when she called to voice her concerns around the possible spread of COVID-19 at Case Farms. On the other end of the phone line, Rivas said, an inspector took down her complaint but told her there wasn’t much the agency could do because it doesn’t have specific regulations for infectious diseases. The agency had made recommendations to businesses, but it had no power to enforce them, the inspector said.
(Natalie Bouchard of North Carolina’s Department of Labor said the agency investigates every complaint. In a statement, she confirmed the state has no occupational safety standard concerning COVID-19 but added that “it is the employer’s duty to provide each employee with a ‘place of employment free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious injury or serious physical harm to his employees.’”)
Discouraged by the response, Rivas, who has a 2-year-old son and 8-year-old daughter, decided to quit rather than risk infection. “I thought I was going to receive some answers that would reassure me,” she said. “But from what I understood, it didn’t matter what was happening, whether it’s a pandemic or not, the plant was going to continue working as normal.”
Do you have access to information about how the government is protecting — or not protecting — essential workers from the coronavirus that should be public? Email [email protected].
Here’s how to send tips and documents to ProPublica securely.
Ryann Grochowski Jones, Ellis Simani and Melissa Sanchez contributed reporting.
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