Union says US government is not giving essential workers PPE

Federal agencies are violating the Administrative Procedure Act by not taking enhanced steps to equip essential workers with personal protective equipment, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday by AFL-CIO and other labor organizations.

Since March, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and U.S. Department of Homeland Security Chad Wolf have had the authority to expand the domestic production capacity of personal protective equipment and prevent the hoarding of essential materials, the complaint states. The officials were given this authority through executive orders issued by President Donald Trump that month, which delegated authority to the officials under the Defense Production Act.

Thursday's complaint alleges Azar and Wolf failed to "fully utilize DPA's broad authorities to address acute problems in the supply chain of PPE" over the past seven months. It also states the Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Homeland Security "have refused to coordinate a nationwide comprehensive response to the PPE paucity in terms of allocation and manufacturing." Amalgamated Transit Union, AFL-CIO, CLC et al v. Department of Health and Human Services et al., 1:20-cv-02876 (D.D.C. filed Oct. 8, 2018).

The complaint follows a petition for emergency rulemaking the plaintiffs submitted to Azar and Wolf in August, which demanded the officials use their authority under the Defense Production Act to ramp up the production of personal protective equipment like N95 respirators, ventilators, and protective clothing.

Azar and Wolf have not responded to the petition, the complaint said, noting "over the past two months alone the number of coronavirus infections has increased by 2.5 million cases and deaths by 60,000 lives."

"Currently, the White House and Capitol Hill are also experiencing a COVID-19 outbreak, with over 150 essential and other workers testing or presumed positive for the lethal coronavirus," the complaint added. "In light of this compressed time scale and outsized health risks to essential workers deprived of adequate PPE, the Departments' failure to respond to the Emergency PPE Petition constitutes unreasonable delay in violation of the [Administrative Procedure Act]."

The Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Homeland Security did not respond to requests for comment.

AFL-CIO is the largest federation of unions in the nation. On Wednesday, the federation filed another complaint with the United Nations' International Labour Organization, alleging the federal government violated international labor standards during the pandemic. AFL-CIO filed the complaint along with the SEIU, which represents nearly 2 million members.

Wednesday's complaint alleged OSHA failed to adopt emergency standards for COVID-19 safety in the workplace, opting for "toothless" guidance instead. The complaint also points to the National Labor Relations Board's recent decisions, which the unions said endangered workers' lives by making it harder for them to organize and bargain, according to a release from the SEIU.