UFCW 21 Working for Health in Our Workplaces and Our Communities
/Many UFCW 21 members are serving critical roles during the coronavirus/COVID-19 outbreak here in Washington State.
Right now UFCW 21 members are:
Providing and facilitating quality care for people ill with COVID-19
Cleaning and disinfecting patients’ rooms
Processing COVID-19 tests in labs
Feeding our customers and making sure they have medicine and cleaning supplies in grocery stores, retail stores, and pharmacies
Ensuring airport travelers are as comfortable as possible
Most of our jobs cannot be done from home and are essential to the safety and health of our communities.
Some of us are also quarantined after being exposed to COVID-19 in our workplaces or communities. We are worried about the health and safety of our families and communities and if we get sick how we will be able to support ourselves if we are unable to work. We share these concerns with millions of workers throughout our industries and our state.
Advocacy Efforts
UFCW 21 is working with state and local government to advocate for workplace safety and ensure access to the paid leave and benefits people need to safely stay home if they are in a high-risk group, sick, or under quarantine. We are also working to ensure necessary supports, such as child care, for health care, pharmacy and grocery store workers who remain at work on the front lines of the crisis, providing essential services to our community.
We are working with public health agencies to maintain recommendations for the safest level of personal protective equipment for front-line health care workers. While this virus is still being understood, health care workers deserve the highest level of assurance that caring for patients will not put them, their families, and their community at unnecessary risk.
We have worked with state agencies to increase workers’ access to benefits and leave when they are affected by this outbreak, and they are moving to do so by opening up access to workers compensation and unemployment insurance.
We are working with city governments to prevent utility shut-offs for those impacted by the crisis, as Seattle is doing.
We are working with city governments to prohibit or limit evictions during the crisis.
We are asking our employers to follow public health guidelines for employers so that everyone who needs to work can be safe, and everyone who needs to stay home can do so. No one should be forced to choose between making rent and keeping their co-workers and community safe.
We are working with public health authorities to ensure that all of our employers, including grocery stores and other retailers, understand and implement industry-specific best practices for reducing the risk of transmission.
We were a leader on the citizen initiative that passed paid sick leave statewide in our state, meaning that nearly a million workers in Washington have paid sick leave who did not have it before.
Here is what you can do:
Practice Zero Tolerance for Discrimination
UFCW 21 Asian Pacific Islander (API) members and community are being targeted. We at UFCW 21 have no tolerance for discrimination, racism, and xenophobia. There is no basis for assuming someone’s risk of illness or exposure based on their race, nationality, language, or country of origin. Misinformation and discrimination is harmful and makes it harder to contain this virus that threatens us all. For resources on how to prevent and respond to discrimination, go to Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance or King County Public Health.
Take Care of Yourself
We’re all doing our part to be healthy and safe. Please help us, and all workers who serve the public, by staying home when you are ill, alerting your health care provider if you are planning to come to a clinic or hospital with COVID-19 symptoms, practicing social distancing and following all public health recommendations.
Use your Union Power to protect yourself, your co-workers, and our community
As union workers we have the right and responsibility to speak up for health protections that will make us and our community safer.
