More worker power is the only sure path to safe work and pandemic recovery

Trapped at work during an intense storm that generated multiple tornadoes, six Amazon workers in Illinois and eight workers at a Kentucky candle factory died tragic, preventable deaths at the end of 2021. Their deaths brought brief visibility and attention to the reality that unless workers have a union, many lack the power to refuse unsafe work even in the face of extreme hazards.

As we enter year three of the COVID-19 pandemic, there likewise remains no refuge from the ever-present hazard of coronavirus exposure for millions of front-line workers whose jobs often require in-person work, long hours in unventilated spaces, frequent contact with co-workers or the public, and no guarantee of paid leave or health insurance.

Policy failures are contributing to untold numbers of worker deaths

Since early in the pandemic, EPI research sounded the alarm that weak labor protections, eroded worker power, and economic inequality were leaving working people and particularly low-wage workers—disproportionately women and workers of color—to bear the greatest costs of the pandemic.

Studies of COVID-19 mortality data reflect the devastating impact of policy failures to protect front-line workers. Among multiple factors contributing to racial disparities in COVID-19 mortality rates are distinctions between who can and cannot work safely from home during the pandemic. Data show telework during the pandemic has been more common for workers with advanced degrees, and less likely for Black and Hispanic workers, regardless of education levels. If all U.S. residents experienced the same COVID-19 mortality rates as college-educated white individuals, there would have been 48% fewer COVID-19 deaths among adults overall in 2020 and 89% fewer deaths among Black and Brown adults ages 25 to 64 years old. While it is likely we are experiencing the greatest workplace death toll and largest mass disabling event in U.S. history, even these disturbing numbers tell only part of the story.