‘Mourn for the dead, fight for the living’

Bill Knight column for 4-23, 24 or 25, 2020

The annual Workers Memorial Day next week will be even more depressing and infuriating than usual, as the coronavirus makes virtually all work unsafe. Also, April 28 may come and go with no assemblies to honor the fallen since those who typically commemorate the labor force’s losses will abide by recommendations to avoid gatherings.

But it will be impossible to neglect the illnesses and deaths surrounding us.

Health-care workers are as heroic as other first responders, and so are “essential workers,” as determined by authorities such as Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker.

Medscape.com is maintaining a running list of more than 100 health-care workers who’ve died as a result of COVID-19. At press time, they range from A to Z, from New Orleans nurse Larrice Anderson to Oceanside, N.Y., pediatrician Jesus Zambrano. Search for “In memoriam. Medscape.com.”

Besides health-care services, Pritzker said essential workers in our communities include grocery employees, mail and shipping workers, construction, utility crews, garbage and recycling workers, media personnel, gas stations, hardware-store workers, teachers working from a distance, laundry workers, and cooks and wait staff at restaurants for take-out food.

“The vast majority of workers who are deemed essential are poorly paid, or otherwise treated with disdain,” said Katie Barrows of the non-profit Action Network. “Grocery-store workers, sanitation workers, utility workers, and, of course, health-care workers, have always been the backbone of our country. These workers are heroes and deserve more than just gratitude – they deserve proper safety equipment and hazard pay during the coronavirus crisis, along with raises, respect and strong unions when social distancing is over.”

Apart from other workplace accidents and injuries, a sampling of fatalities due to the pandemic include Illinois unionists Edward Singleton, a firefighter, and Darrell Jones, an Amalgamated Transit Union worker, plus Autoworkers at Fiat Chrysler plants in Michigan, and 23-year Bronx Letter Carrier Rakkhon Kim. The AFL-CIO has an online tribute to the many casualties, such as Los Angeles Boilermaker Oscar Davila, Miami nurse and SEIU member Araceli Buendia Ilagan, and Kentucky bricklayer ARon Jordan. Search for “In Memoriam: Union Members Lost in COVID-19 Pandemic.”

Elsewhere, the White House’s emphasis, or obsession, with the economy seems at odds with shelter-at-home advice by scientists, and at the expense of the health of workers and customers alike.

Staying at home and similar actions are the most effective defenses against transmission of the deadly virus, and though millions are losing jobs, lives must be the priority.

Astonishingly, President Trump said the costs of shutting down businesses outweigh the benefits.

“The cure cannot be worse (by far) than the problem!” he tweeted March 24.

Lisa Heinzerling, who worked to balance environmental-protections and their economic consequences during a stint with the Obama administration, forcefully disagreed.

“It doesn’t help to save the economy if a tremendous number of people have died or fallen ill and their lives are changed forever,” she told the Associated Press.

Further, the extent of COVID-19 infections remains unknown because of the federal government’s failure to make tests available, according to the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union.

There are brighter spots. The labor federation is pressing the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to enact emergency standards – which aren’t part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act. Steelworkers Local 366 at the American Roots clothing manufacturer in Westbrook, Maine, is one example of many meaningful responses to the needs of this crisis, as they re-tooled to produce medical masks and other critically needed supplies. Another is a donation of N95 respirators and other protective equipment like face shields to a Des Moines hospital by members of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART) Local 45 and Sheet Metal Contractors of Iowa.

Also, though new unemployment numbers in recent weeks topped 22 million, Illinois the last month averaged about 158,000 per week, one of the lowest states in the country, according to Diana Polk of WalletHub, which tracks economic developments. Most of Illinois jobless unemployment claims have been in “accommodation and food services, health care and social assistance, and manufacturing, according to the U.S. Labor Department.

For resources, particularly of interest to regular working people, search “Federal and State Resources for Workers” “aflcio.org.”