John Nichols: Worker safety must come first in any reopening
Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin is determined to defend essential workers during the coronavirus pandemic and to defend all workers as the economy reopens.
Unfortunately, Baldwin’s advocacy runs up against President Donald Trump’s Department of Labor. Trump’s labor secretary, Eugene Scalia, came to his position as a corporate lawyer rather than a worker advocate. That’s a serious problem, because, while attention to the federal response to COVID-19 has focused on Trump’s press briefings and congressional bills, cabinet agencies will play a huge role in determining whether the “reopening” of the American economy is functional and fair and safe for American workers.
Getting America back to work when the coronavirus pandemic ebbs is going to require visionary leadership, and ideally it would come from the Department of Labor, which, according to its mission statement, is supposed “to foster, promote, and develop the welfare of the wage earners (and) improve working conditions.” Unfortunately, Scalia, the son of a notorious former Supreme Court justice who made his own name as a special assistant to Attorney General William P. Barr during the presidency of George H.W. Bush appears to be the wrong man in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Scalia’s biases would warrant concern at any time, but they are doubly troubling at a point when jobless claims have spiked, the unemployment insurance system is overwhelmed and essential workers have not received adequate protection. As the economy reopens, the great danger is that corners will be cut in order to serve the bottom lines of corporations — and that workers will be further endangered.
Read more: https://madison.com/ct/opinion/column/john_nichols/john-nichols-worker-safety-must-come-first-in-any-reopening/article_f267c31d-fc60-5ffb-8f83-5d1969667477.html
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