AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka on Friday warned that workers will be at risk of getting sick with the coronavirus if restrictions on businesses are lifted without robust safety protocols in place.
“Don’t talk about tough restrictions and guidelines. Talk about worker safety,” Trumka said on CNBC’s “Closing Bell.” “We want them to open up, but we want them to open up consistent with the health and safety of those workers.”
The failure to prioritize worker safety while restarting the economy will only multiply the threat of additional Covid-19 outbreaks, Trumka argued. “All that we will do is open up and then immediately in a month or so have to close back down because workers got infected,” he said.
Trumka said the U.S. needs to continue expanding its testing capacity and the availability of personal protective equipment to adequately protect workers. “There are shortages of both now,” he said, which he argued will only be compounded when the millions of out-of-work…
