FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 4, 2021

Contact: Chelsea Connor | cconnor@rwdsu.org | 347-866-6259

OSHA ETS STATEMENT FROM RWDSU

(NEW YORK, NY) – Tomorrow, the new OSHA Emergency Temporary Standard on COVID-19 vaccines and testing will go into effect. Stuart Appelbaum, President of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), which represents essential and frontline workers in grocery, pharmacy, retail, food service, food processing, distribution, building services, warehousing, nursing homes, non-profit at facilities across the United States issued the following statement:

“The new ETS announced today will go a long way to protect our members from contracting COVID-19. Too many essential and frontline workers' lives continue to be on the line in this pandemic, and having a standard to protect workers across the board is critical. The science shows the greatest protection against severe illness and death to COVID-19 workers can take for themselves and their families is to get vaccinated. Our union has been negotiating terms for workers around vaccine mandates across many industries and this new standard will provide a unilateral standard, which includes an option to adopt a testing protocol and face coverings for workers who cannot be vaccinated. This ETS is a necessary win for workers who for too long under the last administration were left on the line unprotected.” 

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 The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) represents 100,000 members throughout the United States. The RWDSU is affiliated with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW). For more information, please visit our website at www.rwdsu.org, Facebook:/RWDSU.UFCW Twitter:@RWDSU.