Do-It-Yourself Contact Tracing for 1.3 Million: A Union Jumps In
- The UFCW tracks down contacts of workers exposed to Covid-19
- In medical and economic crisis, labor fills governmental void
Marc Perrone testifies during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., on May 12.
Photographer: Carlos Barria/Reuters/Bloomberg
This article is for subscribers only.
The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union is stepping in where the government has failed, running its own coronavirus contact-tracing program for 1.3 million members.
Since the Covid-19 outbreak hit, the union has sent agents into grocery stores, meatpacking plants and food-processing facilities. They talk to workers and comb work schedules to figure out who might have been exposed. Then, they notify the employer’s human resources department and direct workers to free testing sites, some provided by the union.