The AFL-CIO has called on President Obama to take executive action to establish mandatory standards to protect healthcare workers and others from exposure to the Ebola virus.
In letters to the president and congressional leaders Tuesday, Richard Trumka, who heads the labor federation, expressed “deep concern” that not enough was being doing to protect nurses and other healthcare workers who treat Ebola patients.
“The failures in the response [to the virus] has put dozens of additional healthcare workers at risk and … created great uncertainty, anxiety and fear,” he wrote. “Immediate action is needed.”
Trumka has asked for “government-wide coordination” and “uniform enforceable national standards” to protect healthcare workers and the public from the virus.
The union’s demands include:
• Ensuring that healthcare workers and emergency responders have the necessary protective equipment, including full body suits, to protect themselves against the virus
• Protecting against the retaliation or disciplining of whistleblowers who raise safety and heath concerns
• Ensuring that workers removed from their jobs due to Ebola exposure receive their full wages and benefits
• Direct the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and other government agencies to seek the input of workers and unions in the development of Ebola-protection standards
The union also is asking the federal government to spend more money to improve the “public health infrastructure” and to respond to public health emergencies.
“The events of the past 10 days in Texas have tested our healthcare institutions and systems and found them unprepared and unable to provide proper patient care or adequate protection to workers and the public,” Trumka said. “Existing protocols, standards and guidelines, and adherence to them, are deficient.”
