NEW: The Department of Labor has posted a helpful Q&A [2] about the extension of COVID-19 unemployment benefits contained in the Coronavirus Response and Relief Appropriations Act.
Update, January 11, 2021
Update, January 8, 2021
As our nation and our world take measures to mitigate the impact of the novel coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic, workers need effective rank-and-file unions more than ever, to make sure workers’ voices are heard as decisions are being made which impact our health, our jobs, and our ability to provide for our families.
In this section of our website you will find suggestions for maintaining local union functioning [4], demands locals should consider making on employers [5], and suggestions for what to do if COVID-19 comes into your workplace [6].
On December 21, the U.S. Congress passed the Coronavirus Response and Relief Appropriations Act as part of a mammoth, 5,600-page budgetary deal. It passed the House and Senate with an overwhelming margin, and was signed into law on December 27. This legislation is far from the comprehensive relief bill working people need, but it provides some necessary stop-gap funding.
Of particular importance for UE locals to note, if private-sector workplaces were granted paid sick and family leave by the Families First bill, then locals will need to take action to make sure it continues. The bill does extend the dollar-for-dollar employer payroll tax credit for provision of leave through March 31, 2021. However, continued implementation of said policies is now entirely voluntary on the part of employers.
While the mandate for paid sick and family leave was not extended, the extension of the payroll tax credit essentially makes paid sick and family leave cost-free for small businesses, which means there is no practical reason why employers should not extend these benefits.
In order to ensure that members in qualifying shops continue to be able to use emergency paid leave through the end of March, new memoranda of understanding which establish a continuation of 2020 emergency sick/family leave policies should be negotiated as soon as is feasible. Locals should contact their assigned staff representative for more information.
Other highlights of the legislation include:
It is important to maintain functional, democratic rank-and-file unions while protecting the health of our members and doing our part to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Therefore:
UPDATED December 15, 2020
We continue to urge UE locals to be aggressive in making sure that workers’ needs and concerns are taken into account as our employers respond to the pandemic.
First, we encourage locals to consult with your assigned UE staff representative (who will have additional resources) and with your membership to determine whether your workplace is truly essential — whether the goods or services you provide are really critical for sustaining life.
If your workplace is not essential and is experiencing COVID-19 outbreaks, we encourage you to demand that your employer shut down and pay all workers to stay home until testing shows that it is safe to return to work.
For any workplaces remaining open, we suggest the following general demands (working with your assigned UE staff representative and membership to develop specific demands tailored to your workplace, industry, and community):
In workplaces that remain open, it is highly likely that the COVID-19 virus will make its way into your workplace. UE locals are encouraged to prepare in advance by negotiating with the employer a protocol for cleaning the workplace and limiting the exposure of other workers. Here are some additional things to keep in mind.
In order to protect and represent our members, we must know whether or not workers are being exposed to this virus while at work. The union has the right to know which employees have tested positive for COVID-19 (and other infectious diseases). Because of the contagious nature of this virus, this includes employees outside of our bargaining unit. The union needs to be able to judge independently which workers and sections of the workplace may have been impacted.
Do not allow the boss to claim that this information is protected health information that they are not allowed to share. Very few of our employers are “covered entities” under the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). The law is aimed at protecting health information held by health care providers (such as hospitals, doctors, or clinics), health plans, and health clearinghouses. (You can see our UE Steward on this topic here [17].)
Whether or not the employer is covered by HIPAA, the law allows for the disclosure of information that is necessary to prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to the health or safety of a person or the public. Sharing this information with the union is necessary for the union to represent our members’ needs, and it allows us to assist in preventing the spread of this disease and protecting our members.
Disclosing positive COVID-19 cases will also allow the union to help members receive relevant benefits, such as workers’ compensation or disability benefits. If we have clear evidence that workers who test positive for COVID-19 have been exposed to this illness through another employee, then those secondary workers may be eligible for workers compensation benefits while they are out of work due to the illness. To collect benefits, workers may also need to be able to show they were not exposed to the disease elsewhere, such as at home.
Workers compensation differs from state to state, but it is likely to cover health care bills related to the worker’s illness as well as a substantial portion of wages while they are out sick. It may take some time for workers compensation benefits to be approved, so it is still worthwhile to use available sick leave benefits, such as those now available to many workers in new federal legislation [10]. Because some of these benefits are new, it is not yet clear how these benefits will interact with each other. For example, once workers compensation benefits are made available to a worker, it may be the case that some portion of sick leave will need to be repaid or that workers compensation will be reduced by amounts already paid to the worker through sick leave. Nevertheless, it may be useful for members to pursue all available benefits, including workers compensation.
Also make sure that the other protections outlined on our “Demands on Employers” [5] page are in place.
UE Stewards are our first line of defense on a new front. Stewards have a special role to play right now to assist our members as they face a life-threatening situation. Some of our workplaces must stay open to provide life-sustaining services, and stewards will need to advocate for special workplace protections. Other workplaces must close or drastically reduce the number of workers present to prevent this disease from spreading more rapidly, and stewards will need to help workers navigate layoffs and maintain connections with members outside of work. This special edition of the UE Steward will help you make your way through this moment.
All the basic rights of union stewards and union leaders remain intact. We have the right to bargain over changes in our workplaces that affect our health and safety, pay, benefits, and other working conditions.
This means we have the right to demand standards that will keep members safe during this viral outbreak, including advocating for closing nonessential businesses or advocating for additional safety measures in workplaces that must remain open. Please see our “Demands on Employers [5]” for some ideas, and contact your UE staff person, who will have additional resources.
Never take the bosses’ word that they don’t have to bargain over an issue. Check with your UE staff person first. Because even if the contract has “waived” the right to bargain or grieve an issue, the company may be obligated to bargain over the effect of the change. We must always try to make management bargain over any proposed change, no matter what the Management Rights clause says.
The employer must give notice to the union of the proposed change BEFORE any new policies are announced.
For workers in healthcare settings and those in sanitation and waste management, both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [21] and Occupational Safety and Health Administration [22] have comprehensive guidelines that apply to keeping workers safe. These include guidelines for returning to work after infection [23]. If the boss is not following these requirements, union leaders should bring that to the attention of supervisors immediately. If the union’s demands go unheard, the union should file a grievance. Consider making it a group grievance supported by many members.
For other workers, federal guidelines are more general, and UE locals will need to consider which provisions best meet the needs of the workplace. This OSHA pamphlet [24] contains a number of ideas, including engineering controls and use of personal protective equipment. If a worker has tested positive for the virus, demand that the boss follow these CDC disinfecting guidelines [18]. These guidelines recommend waiting at least 24 hours before disinfecting, so consider demanding a one-day shut down of the workplace prior to disinfection.
During this pandemic, we cannot rely on OSHA to enforce workplace safety regulations. The union must demand the boss comply.
The union has the right to demand to know if employees have tested positive for the virus, including those outside our bargaining unit. The union needs to be able to judge independently which workers and sections of the workplace may have been impacted. Do not allow the boss to claim that the name of a sick employee is protected health information. Very few of our employers are “covered entities” under the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) [17]. Whether or not the employer is covered by HIPAA, the law allows the disclosure of information that is necessary to prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to the health or safety of a person or the public. Sharing this information with the union is necessary for the union to represent our members’ needs, and it allows us to assist in preventing the spread of this disease and protecting our members. Demand that the boss report to the union known positive cases of the virus immediately and on an on-going basis.
The federal government has passed a number of bills to address this pandemic, and there will be more in the future. Be sure to check UE’s webpage on COVID-19 resources for up-to-date information: ueunion.org/covid19 [25]
Benefits available to many workers now include paid sick leave, paid family leave, expanded unemployment benefits, one-time cash payments, and more. Workers can find regularly updated information on these provisions on the UE website and from a UE staff member.
Current CDC guidelines [14] recommend limiting gatherings to 10 people or less, and that, especially in areas with community spread of the virus, people keep at least six feet away from one another. These recommendations make it challenging to continue our normal union practices.
For regular union meetings, consider meeting remotely by using conference call or video conference technology. UE has made Zoom meeting technology available to all locals. Contact your staff person for more information. For union elections, consider conducting the election with online voting technology. Generally, this technology requires participants to have an email address, so this may or may not be realistic for every UE local depending on workers’ use of email.
There are many ways to show a united front to the boss without violating these guidelines. In addition to group grievances mentioned above, members can still wear stickers, buttons, or union t-shirts to show our solidarity on an issue. Tactics that will catch the boss’s ear, such as blowing a whistle when a supervisor walks into the work area, can still be done from six feet apart. Workers can put signs for management to see inside their car windshields, or even hold an informational picket as long as workers keep their distance from each other.
Workers can make online petitions, either just among workers or for the public to support as well. Hundreds of Hallcon workers across multiple UE locals in several states signed an online petition demandings that the company improve safety standards. UE Local 150 sponsored an online petition that hundreds of workers and students in the University of North Carolina system signed, demanding that UNC take measures to protect its workers’ health. Check with your assigned UE staff representative; they have been provided with resources for setting up online petitions.
Another online action to pressure management is to take pictures of different workers holding up key messages, and share them on social media. As long as multiple workers participate, this is a protected activity. This was a key tactic used by UE Local 203 [26] to win hazard pay through public support from the community in Burlington, Vermont.
Now is the time for stewards to make sure they are embracing their roles as union communicators and educators.
When workers are out of work due to a strike, the union pulls together to make sure workers and their families have food and other resources. Now is no different. In the event that workers are out sick with this virus or the workplace shuts down, consider using the steward network to support each other in new ways. This should include identifying healthy workers to do things like running errands and delivering meals or groceries for those that must stay at home. Create opportunities for workers to interact with each other while they are apart, such as conference calls or video meetings. Solidarity doesn’t end when we go home.
NOTE, January 11, 2021: Please refer to our summary of the Coronavirus Response and Relief Appropriations Act [3] for information on which provisions of these earlier pieces of legislation remain in effect. We will no longer be updating this page
These are the highlights of the bill that was passed by Congress and signed into law on March 18, 2020.
NOTE, January 11, 2021: Please refer to our summary of the Coronavirus Response and Relief Appropriations Act [3] for information on which provisions of these earlier pieces of legislation remain in effect. We will no longer be updating this page
This page was edited in September to reflect the benefits still available to working people as of September 1, 2020. When this legislation passed in March, we knew it would be insufficient to meet the needs of working people during the economic crisis caused by the pandemic. Unfortunately, Congress and the White House have failed to prioritize the needs of working people, and many of these minimal benefits are now gone (these are shown as struck-through below). Most of these remaining benefits will expire December 31, 2020. We need a robust federal response in order to prevent millions of Americans from being evicted from their homes, to keep food on the table and state and local government services operating, and to ensure the safety of our elections. Congress must pass a new bill to meet the needs of the millions of unemployed workers and all of us who are still facing the threat of this virus.
In early August, following the breakdown in talks for a replacement bill for the CARES Act (itself caused by the inability of elements in Trump’s negotiating team to meet halfway with Democrats in Congress), the Trump Administration issued four executive orders purportedly meant to address elements of the CARES Act which were expiring. These four executive orders include a totally toothless statement on evictions and an illusory payroll tax holiday not worth addressing here. However, a very limited (in duration and dollar value) continued expansion of unemployment, along with an extension of student loan deferment, do provide tangible benefits to some workers, and thus are mentioned in this updated summary.
These are the worker-related highlights of the bill that was passed by Congress, signed into law on March 27, 2020, and went into effect immediately. The law also contains many deplorable handouts for big business that show the depth of corporate cronyism in Washington, DC. However, it does provide a down payment on the economic relief that working people need.
The following information describes those elements that most directly assist the working class. This is not an attempt to cover every detail of the various programs — UE staff can assist locals if more specifics are needed.
Unemployment insurance has been temporarily improved in several ways in order to deal with the historic spike in unemployment. This includes:
On August 8, the Trump Administration issued an executive order which institutes a much more limited version of expanded unemployment. This provides an additional $300 per week in federal funds, and gives states the option to fund an additional $100 in benefits themselves. However, this expansion contains several limitations that the CARES Act did not, including only being available for those currently receiving $100 or more in regular unemployment benefits. In addition the pool of funding used for said program is extremely limited, and expected to be exhausted after no more than five weeks. Most but not all U.S. states have applied for this more limited expansion, but the effective date varies from state to state, with some beginning to pay out benefits in late August and others not expecting to be ready until October. Much is still in flux, and will not be finalized until the program deadline September 10.
Businesses and nonprofits that employ less than 500 workers have been able to get forgivable loans, essentially grants from the federal government, through the Paycheck Protection Program. This paid for the payroll costs (including full salaries and health benefits) plus the utilities and rent or mortgage of the business for up to eight weeks and workers can be off work throughout that period. The loans were arranged through local banks to speed distribution but they are backed by the Small Business Administration.
While Congress extended PPP funding in two separate standalone bills, the ability of new businesses to enroll expired on August 8. However, it remains in effect for any businesses which have already qualified for loans.
The bill includes a one-time, $1,200 check for each adult making less than $75,000 annually, or $2,400 for each married couple making less than $150,000. For each child age 16 or under (i.e., who would normally qualify for a child tax credit), households get an additional $500. For higher income brackets the payment is slowly phased down, with individuals making more than $99,000 and childless couples making more than $198,000 not getting any benefit. Limits are a bit higher for families with children — reportedly $218,000 for a family of four. The benefit is not considered taxable income.
Even if you haven’t filed federal taxes in the past two years, you may be eligible for a check. However, any adult dependants within a household (including college students) are not eligible for any payment (either $1,200 or $500). In addition, a valid Social Security number is required (excepting spouses of active-duty members of the military), which means most undocumented immigrants will not receive this benefit.
Approximately 10%-15% of qualified Americans have yet to receive direct payments. If you have not received a payment, there are several steps you can take. Rather than directly call the IRS, it is suggested you first use the Get My Payment online tracking tool [32]. Individuals who have not filed taxes in the past two years may also have to file some information online with the IRS in order to proceed [33].
Around $150 billion in federal money had been set aside for states, territories, and tribal governments to deal with ramifications from the COVID-19 public health emergency. This funding is intended to pay for necessary expenditures incurred in responding to the coronavirus outbreak — such as field hospitals and buying ventilators — along with paying for other essential government services not budgeted for in the wake of the economic downturn. While the funding offered to the states in this bill is a welcome lifeline for public budgets and public employees right now, it is insufficient to prevent public-sector layoffs in the longer run.
Further federal action is needed as soon as possible to provide direct aid to state and local governments. If no such aid is forthcoming, it is likely there will be catastrophic levels of public-sector layoffs in many portions of the country. This will also result in a dramatic scaling-back of the social safety net during a time period Americans are more in need of government help than any time since the great depression.
Several elements of the CARES Act provide added security for certain homeowners and renters. These included:
All student loans held by the federal government are deferred (including principal and interest) through December 31, 2020 without penalty to the borrower. Also, interest shall not accrue over this period. The CARES Act ended any existing wage garnishment (the new Trump Executive Order is silent on the matter). The first six months of deferred payment counted towards any loan forgiveness program, although once again, the Trump Administration does not appear to have addressed this in its extension of student loan deferment.
There are several other smaller elements which benefit students and former students, including:
Links
[1] https://www.ueunion.org/es/el-covid-19
[2] https://blog.dol.gov/2021/01/11/unemployment-benefits-answering-common-questions
[3] https://www.ueunion.org/covid19/crraa
[4] https://www.ueunion.org/covid19/unions
[5] https://www.ueunion.org/covid19/employers
[6] https://www.ueunion.org/covid19/workplace
[7] https://www.ueunion.org/stwd_covid19.html
[8] https://www.ueunion.org/fight
[9] https://www.ueunion.org/covid19/hr748
[10] https://www.ueunion.org/covid19/hr6201
[11] https://www.ueunion.org/political-action/2020/covid-19-relief-sanders-priorities-coronavirus-package
[12] https://www.ueunion.org/ue-news/2020/workers-lives-vs-corporate-profits
[13] https://www.ueunion.org/es/el-covid-19/sindicatos
[14] https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/organizations/guidance-community-faith-organizations.html
[15] https://www.ueunion.org/es/el-covid-19/empleadores
[16] https://www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/coronavirus-disease-covid-19-ventilation-and-air-conditioning-in-public-spaces-and-buildings
[17] https://www.ueunion.org/stwd_hipaa.html
[18] https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prepare/disinfecting-building-facility.html
[19] https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/if-you-are-sick/steps-when-sick.html
[20] https://www.ueunion.org/es/el-covid-19/para-el-delegado-de-la-ue
[21] https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/healthcare-facilities/guidance-hcf.html
[22] https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/covid-19/controlprevention.html
[23] https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/healthcare-facilities/hcp-return-work.html
[24] https://www.osha.gov/Publications/OSHA3990.pdf
[25] https://www.ueunion.org/covid19
[26] https://www.facebook.com/pg/UE203/photos/?tab=album&album_id=3069933763037823
[27] https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019
[28] https://www.ueunion.org/sites/default/files/stwd0420.pdf
[29] https://www.ueunion.org/es/el-covid-19/hr6201
[30] https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/pandemic/ffcra-employee-paid-leave
[31] https://www.ueunion.org/es/el-covid-19/hr748
[32] https://sa.www4.irs.gov/irfof-wmsp/login
[33] https://www.irs.gov/coronavirus/non-filers-enter-payment-info-here