AFL-CIO launches ‘Am I Safe at Work?’ webtool

As the COVID-19 pandemic ravages the country – and in the absence of a federal enforceable, emergency workplace COVID-19 standard – working people are looking for ways to join together to form a union in their workplaces and negotiate for strong health and safety protections.

The AFL-CIO launched a new web tool Sept. 4 to raise awareness of what a safe workplace should look like and how a union can help achieve these goals.

The “Am I Safe At Work” website (aflcio.org/safe-at-work) contains fundamental information to empower workers to identify key COVID-19 risks in their workplaces, and provides tools to join together with co-workers for better safety protections, and guides on how to contact a union to help negotiate with an employer for safer working conditions.

This pandemic has particularly affected women and people of color. From nurses who take care of the sick to teachers and meat processing and transit workers, every day working people are risking our lives. A key goal of the web tool is to provide information that can save lives.

“No one should be at risk of acquiring COVID-19 because they are working tirelessly to provide necessities for their family and our country,” said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. “Working people have organized to fight for safer working conditions for decades, forming unions to win protections and save lives.

“Our new web tool, ‘Am I Safe at Work,’ will help workers demand safer workplaces as the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration fails to hold employers accountable,” Trumka said. “We will do all we can to help keep all workers safe, but federal OSHA needs to issue an enforceable, emergency workplace COVID-19 standard.”