USW at O-I COVID-19 Update: May 14, 2020
We are Essential, NOT Expendable!
Since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the U.S. the United Steelworkers have engaged with employers in every industry to bargain safety policies designed to protect our members’ health.
However, despite constant pressure, O-I has only agreed to two conference calls with our union and continues pushing weak and ineffective policies.
- At the Tracy facility, the company forced employees back to work after exposure to an infected employee in the mold shop.
- At other facilities, the company says they are enforcing temperature checks even though their thermometers are clearly showing faulty results.
- Employees sent home with temperatures reported at 100.4 or greater, measured by the faulty thermometers, aren’t being paid for their shift or receiving the contractual four-hour reporting pay.
Meanwhile, many industrial workplaces have implemented measures to slow the spread, such as offering two weeks paid leave for workers with symptoms or a known exposure and paying for the full shift if a worker is sent home for a high temp. Unfortunately, O-I has fallen behind.
Wearing masks, using hand sanitizer and enforcing physical distancing at work are helpful, but we need to ensure sick employees stay home in order to protect everyone else at the facility.
O-I must put our health and safety first!
First, we need to ensure workers who are or may be infected stay home. Not everyone with the virus shows symptoms, so it’s critical that people stay home if they are exposed – even if they don’t have a fever.
Our union has asked the company to consider policies that other employers in the sector and union have already agreed to, including:
- Two-weeks paid time off for anyone who is infected, showing symptoms, or directly exposed to the virus
- Employees sent home with temperatures reported at 100.4 or greater should be compensated for the day and not incur points.
- Strict and clear return-to-work policies for anyone who had to take time off due to one of the above reasons
- Ensure workers can access S&A benefits immediately, without a waiting period