65
^
Cerue Cotton, a forklift operator
for Cash-Wa Distributing in
Fargo, N.D., on Jan. 2In September, Adam Dean, a profes-
sor of political science at George Wash-
ington University, co-authored a study
in Health Affairs showing that union-
ized nursing homes were associated
with a 30% lower mortality rate at the
height of the first corona virus surge
compared with nursing homes with-
out unions. The unions were also asso-
ciated with greater access to PPE and a
lower COVID-19 infection rate. “Laborunions provide protections that not only
benefit workers in the union, but have
broader benefits for society,” Dean says.In some places, organizing during
COVID-19 has paid off for workers. In
West Virginia, Kroger employees’ strike
threat earned them raises and limits on
health care premium increases. When the
MultiCare Indigo providers in Washing-
ton went on strike in November, the com-
pany ignored their demands for weeks.
But after finding itself under scrutiny, it
reversed course and started rolling out
N95s to urgent-care providers on Dec. 14.
Yet in much of the country, labor
activists say, progress has been sluggish.
The patchwork system of coronavirus-
inspired relief, combined with the gov-
ernment’s lax enforcement of workers’
right to organize, has weakened what
might have been more robust national
momentum, says Dean. “Even if there’s
an increase in individual interest to join
unions, there’s still major obstacles in
American labor law that make it diffi-
cult for workers to actually form or join a
union,” he says.
Labor organizers are hopeful that
even incremental progress portends a
changing landscape. In February 2020,
the House passed legislation that would
make it easier for workers to organize,
limit employers’ antiunion tools and in-
crease penalties for companies that in-
terfere. Biden supports that bill, and his
host of other actions could start making
a difference soon.
And if workers didn’t win every fight
in 2020, Rutgers’ Givan says even unsuc-
cessful attempts at organizing can have a
lasting impact. “By starting to understand
the big picture, and how hard they’re
working and where the profits are going,
they’re more likely to engage in fighting
for fairness in the future,” Givan says.
When Cotton, the forklift driver, re-
turned to work after the November
strike, nothing much had changed. The
only difference, she says, was a box of
disposable gloves by the kitchen sink
and a prickly attitude from her super-
visor. But she doesn’t regret joining the
picket line. It was important to show the
company that she and her co-workers
know they deserve to be treated fairly.
“I knew what I did was the right thing,”
she says. □our community,” says Brian Nowak, who
works for the union representing the 75
Cash-Wa workers who went on strike in
North Dakota. “This could in essence
become a hub” for the coronavirus.
His point is borne out in research.