Sacramento, CA – Today, the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Western States Council applauded Governor Gavin Newsom for signing AB 685 by Assemblymember Eloise Gomez Reyes (D-San Bernardino) into law. The legislation will save lives and help reopen the economy safely by requiring employers to report COVID-19 infections in worksites.
“UFCW members – and all essential workers – have suffered greatly in the pandemic from a lack of basic information data needed to prevent worksite exposure and target COVID-19 hotspots,” said Andrea Zinder, president, UFCW Western States Council and UFCW Local 324. “Targeting virus spread in our pharmacies, grocery stores, farms, meatpacking plants, and countless other businesses is vital to prevent workers from getting sick and carrying illness home to our families and frontline communities; it is also essential to get our economy moving again and allow our state to re-open safely.”
“We hear daily about workplace COVID-19 infections and the lack of notice our workers receive when they clock in for work,” said Kathy Finn, secretary-treasurer, UFCW Local 770. “AB 685’s comprehensive mandate to report exposures and cases publicly for tracking purposes will help unions, workers themselves, and the public to all combine forces and minimize collective risk. UFCW members are grateful for the work of the Latino Caucus in highlighting this issue because without a requirement to report COVID-19 exposures, no workplace in California is safe.”
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 17, 2020
Contact: Jenna Thompson, 949.246.1620, [email protected]