We are holding employers accountable and fighting to improve health and safety. Through our coalition work with occupational health, community groups, other labor unions and environmental justice organizations, we got Cal/OSHA to adopt COVID-19 emergency standards in November.
The importance of new Cal/OSHA standards is highlighted by COVID-19 spreading at crisis levels at San Diego County jails. Active infections increased by almost 70 percent in the past week, according to the sheriff’s department.
As SEIU Local 221 President David Garcias says in The San Diego Union-Tribune, “San Diego jails have some of the worst COVID outbreaks statewide, and Sheriff Gore’s response is woefully inadequate.”
New Cal/OSHA workplace protections from COVID-19 give the agency a more powerful tool to enforce safety rules and hold employers accountable.
Fighting COVID-19 is everyone’s responsibility, we all must do our part by wearing masks and social distancing. Employers have an extra level of responsibility to provide well-ventilated, healthy, safe and clean workplaces. Your union is making sure that employers fulfill that responsibility. Tell the Sheriff and County executives that they must do more now by signing the petition.