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RALEIGH聽鈥� Workers鈥� rights advocates across North Carolina are petitioning the North Carolina Department of Labor (NCDOL) to adopt rules protecting workers from future public health crises like the COVID-19 pandemic. The groups are calling on NCDOL to put into place health and safety standards to protect North Carolina workers from airborne infectious diseases 鈥� a step NCDOL has yet to take nearly three years into the pandemic.

As we continue to learn more about the impact of COVID-19 on frontline workers 鈥� particularly to Black and Latinx people who died at disproportionately high rates 鈥� the petitioners聽ask NCDOL to require employers to develop plans to protect their workforce when an airborne infectious disease is declared to be a public health emergency.

鈥淭he NC NAACP State Conference supports the rights of all workers to have safe and adequate working conditions regardless of their immigration status, race, gender, class or ability,鈥� said President Deborah Dicks Maxwell.聽 鈥淔urthermore, we stand in solidarity with other organizations represented in this petition demanding the DOL take necessary action to hold all employers across NC accountable to swift implementation of these health and safety measures to ensure that People of Color in North Carolina who work in these industries are protected from any future harms due to negligence of the employers.鈥澛�

outlines protections and procedures employers should address in a plan to be implemented should a future airborne infectious disease become a public health emergency. Employers would tailor the plans to their worksites' needs and consider protections related to social distancing, ventilation, cleaning, symptom screening, and more.

would safeguard migrant workers, their families and employers, and all who come into contact with them during a public health emergency due to an airborne infectious disease. Some of the additional safety measures proposed in the migrant worker petition include providing face masks and hygiene supplies to those using shared housing and vehicles, expanding or rearranging sleeping quarters, and improving ventilation in shared spaces.

鈥淢igrant workers are at disproportionately high risk for airborne infectious disease because they are housed in crowded communal situations.聽 It is critical that employers take measures to protect them and the surrounding community during times of a public health emergency,鈥� said Carol Brooke, senior staff attorney with the North Carolina Justice Center and attorney for the petitioners.聽 鈥淲e need a rule in place so the Department of Labor can enforce protections for these vulnerable workers.鈥�

The petitions are submitted by the聽,听,听,听, the聽聽and the聽聽鈥� all organizations seeking to protect and advance the rights of North Carolina workers to a safe and healthy working environment. The petitioners are represented by the聽, the聽, and the聽Southern Poverty Law Center.

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聽seeks to minister to farmworkers through direct services, development, and support of programs that work towards the empowerment of farmworkers, and by advocating for systemic change of agricultural policy at local and state levels. Their mission is to respond to the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of migrant and seasonal farmworkers and their families. During the pandemic, EFWM has served its community by providing food, personal protective equipment, cleaning supplies, and mental health services to agricultural workers. In addition, they have provided direct financial support to agricultural workers impacted by COVID-19, including payments to workers who did not get paid for time they were required to quarantine, workers who lost their jobs or had their hours reduced, and payments to relatives of workers who have been hospitalized or died as a result of contracting COVID-19 at work.

聽is made up of workers coming together across industries to build worker power and to transform their low wage, high turnover jobs into good union jobs.聽 They believe that people who work hard for a living should make enough to support themselves, their families, and their neighborhood. They demand dignity and equal treatment, health and safety at work, fair and consistent scheduling, fair pay, and a seat at the table. Members complained that when coworkers got sick, they were not informed, and their workplaces were not adequately cleaned.聽 Members filed complaints with NCDOL about the lack of COVID-19 precautions taken by their fast-food employers.

聽is the largest association of unions of working people in North Carolina, representing over a hundred thousand members. They work together for good jobs, safe workplaces, workers鈥� rights, consumer protections, and quality public services on behalf of ALL working people. Since the start of the pandemic, the NC AFL-CIO has been calling for emergency standards to protect essential workers.

聽builds power among immigrant workers in western North Carolina through education, organizing, and direct action to promote worker justice. They have been in continuous communication with workers about their concerns about working during a pandemic through their worker leadership circles. They have also distributed $118,000 in financial support to immigrant workers across western North Carolina, including to the families of three workers who died after contracting COVID-19 at the local poultry processing plant, Case Farms.

鈥檚 clients work in food processing, including at Mountaire, Pilgrim鈥檚 Pride, and Tyson poultry processing plants, as well as in the service and construction industry. Due to the working conditions in these industries, their clients are at an increased risk for contracting COVID-19 at work. Hundreds of poultry workers and their family members in the region served by EVH (Chatham, Lee, Alamance, and Randolph counties) have been infected, and a few have died from COVID-19.

聽is North Carolina鈥檚 branch of the nation鈥檚 oldest and largest civil rights organization. It is the second-largest state conference of the NAACP in the United States. For over 70 years, NC-NAACP has pursued its mission to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate racial hatred and discrimination. The organization has followed a variety of strategies to carry out this goal, including litigation and direct advocacy on behalf of workers鈥� rights and economic justice.

罢丑别听Southern Poverty Law Center聽is a catalyst for racial justice in the South and beyond, working in partnership with communities to dismantle white supremacy, strengthen intersectional movements, and advance the human rights of all people.聽

罢丑别听聽is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, formed in 1963 at the request of President John F. Kennedy to mobilize the nation鈥檚 leading lawyers as agents for change in the Civil Rights Movement. Today, the Lawyers鈥� Committee uses legal advocacy to achieve racial justice, fighting inside and outside the courts to ensure that Black people and other people of color have the voice, opportunity, and power to make the promises of our democracy real. For more information, please visit聽