New guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, published on the agency's website Wednesday, state that "critical infrastructure workers may be permitted to continue work following potential exposure to COVID-19, provided they remain asymptomatic and additional precautions are implemented to protect them and the community."
"Once again the CDC is putting profits over people with its latest recommendations that downgrade worker protections at a time when they are needed most," said Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO. "These dangerous new guidelines tell employers to keep potentially infected workers at work, which does not protect essential workers on the front lines and ignores firmly established science that there is significant transmission from asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic individuals." Trumka added, These reckless guidelines were not issued to protect workers, but rather to ensure the continuity of business profits." and continued, "These recommendations will lead to many more deaths of those working on our front lines. They must be immediately revoked."
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, tweeted: "Reckless. Short-sighted. Dangerous. Unacceptable."
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/04/11/putting-profits-over-people-unions-warn-new-covid-19-guidance-trump-cdc-endangers
Labor unions representing millions of nurses and other frontline workers across the U.S. are voicing outrage at the new guidance that allows essential employees who have been exposed to the novel coronavirus to return to work more quickly.
"The loosened guidelines are dangerous, and risk exposing other workers and the public to infection, with supposed mitigation measures that are far less effective in reducing the threat of spreading the virus," Bonnie Castillo, executive director of National Nurses United, said.
"Once again the CDC is putting profits over people with its latest recommendations that downgrade worker protections at a time when they are needed most," said Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO. "These dangerous new guidelines tell employers to keep potentially infected workers at work, which does not protect essential workers on the front lines and ignores firmly established science that there is significant transmission from asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic individuals." Trumka added, These reckless guidelines were not issued to protect workers, but rather to ensure the continuity of business profits." and continued, "These recommendations will lead to many more deaths of those working on our front lines. They must be immediately revoked."
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, tweeted: "Reckless. Short-sighted. Dangerous. Unacceptable."
In a statement on Thursday, Rebecca Dixon, executive director of the National Employment Law Project, said the new CDC guidelines "risk endangering workers, their families, their communities, and the public."
"This is a total reversal of the policy CDC has for the public, which states clearly that people who have been exposed to COVID-19 quarantine for 14 days," said Dixon. "With this new policy, the Trump administration has completely abandoned its responsibility to protect workers."
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/04/11/putting-profits-over-people-unions-warn-new-covid-19-guidance-trump-cdc-endangers
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