As a twenty-nine year Safeway employee in Spokane Washington, who has been a shop steward for twenty of those years, Vanessa Evans has seen that consolidation over decades of work in the grocery business.
Read MoreMichael McDonald is an Emergency Department Tech in the pediatric department at Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane Washington. Michael assists doctors and nurses in giving care to kids who come into the Emergency Room and makes sure that the rooms and equipment are ready to go when needed.
Read MoreAs our region again faces wildfire season, wildfires and wildfire smoke may affect us in the workplace and at home. Below are important things to know to stay safe and enforce your rights at work. Here are the most important actions to care for yourself and your coworkers during wildfire season:
Report any safety concerns to your worksite safety committee & management right away, and get support from your Shop Steward and/or Union Rep if your concerns are not addressed.
Get accommodations if needed and exercise your rights—use your sick leave if you become unwell; speak with a health care provider and use FMLA or exercise your disability rights under the ADA if you have a health condition that makes you vulnerable to wildfire smoke.
If your home or work is affected by wildfire and financial assistance would help, speak with your Union Rep about the UFCW 3000 Membership Assistance Fund.
If your workplace, home, or family are evacuated, burned, or otherwise affected by active wildfires:
With a union contract, you have “just cause” protection, meaning you should not be disciplined at work for reasonably having to deal with a circumstance outside of your control like a wildfire that affects your home, work, or commute to work
Make sure to invoke your right to union representation if you are called into a meeting that could lead to discipline (we call these “Weingarten Rights” — read more here)
You have the right to a safe workplace, and if wildfire smoke makes your workplace unhealthy for you, you should be able to address that with your employer and get support from your Shop Steward and/or Union Rep.
You can wear a respirator mask at work that helps protect you against wildfire smoke.
Most masks we wear to protect against COVID do not actually protect against wildfire smoke. The right mask to protect against wildfire smoke is an N95 mask or other respirator with the same or higher level of protection. These respirator masks should have two straps and the word “NIOSH” and/or “N95” or “N100” printed on it.
When the air is smoky, your employer should allow workers to follow basic steps that will help prevent excessive exposure to wildfire smoke—that could include things like reassigning workers to less smoky areas or allowing for extra rest and water breaks away from smoky work areas.
If you or a family member gets sick because of wildfire smoke, you have the right to use Paid Sick & Safe Leave for illness
You may also be able to use your Paid Sick & Safe Leave if your child’s school or place of care, or your worksite has been shut down by a public official due to health-related reasons resulting from exposure to wildfire smoke
If you are vulnerable to smoky air due to an existing medical condition, talk to your health care provider about your workplace and see if they have recommendations for how to keep you safe from smoke exposure. Use FMLA if needed, or exercise your disability rights under the ADA.
We are the Union. The members of UFCW 3000 are over 50,000 members working in grocery, retail, health care, meat packing, cannabis, & other industries across Washington state, north-east Oregon, and northern Idaho. UFCW 3000 is a chartered member of UFCW International with over 1.4 million workers in North America.
To build a powerful Union that fights for economic, political and social justice in our workplaces and in our communities.
