On July 11, the ADN published an op-ed article titled “Protecting Alaska’s workers must be a priority,” by Heidi Drygas. As representatives of hospitality workers, we agree with Ms. Drygas’ article. We believe that workers must be protected, that employers must closely follow health and safety guidelines, and that the government agency in charge of making sure that workplaces are safe, should have and strictly enforce such guidelines.
We have heard from our members that there are inconsistencies in training on (and the provision of) personal protective equipment to workers from their employers. Some of our members have been trained in safety regarding COVID-19, and others have not. Some state they have received PPE and others have not.
Front-line hospitality workers are not consistently nor properly protected against COVID-19. There seems not to be clear guidelines followed. For example, what should a hotel worker do when exposed to another person who tests positive for COVID-19? If somebody has COVID-19 symptoms and gets tested, should they quarantine themselves until getting their results back or go straight back to work? There have been managers who tell workers to go straight back to work once they were tested and some workers have been pressured to return to work before they received their test results. In some hotels there have been guests in quarantine and workers were not informed about which rooms were occupied either by people who were quarantining because they just came in from out of state, or who have already tested positive for COVID-19.
What are the rights for people who have been exposed? Get tested? Who pays for the test? Should the employer pay sick days while the worker is waiting for the test results? What if workers test positive? Do they receive wages while quarantining? Who should be contacted if the employer has forced or pressured workers to come back to work while they are sick or have been exposed to this virus? How can city mandates be enforced? All these questions and more are on our members’ and non-union hotel workers’ minds alike.
Dayra Valades
Organizer, UNITE HERE Local 878
Anchorage
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