AMHERST — As COVID-19 cases continue to increase in Massachusetts, praise for the essential workers still going to their jobs is ubiquitous. Residents celebrate health care workers at the end of their shifts, and the 104th Fighter Wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard recently flew over local hospitals in a sign of appreciation.
However, many of those essential workers in Western Massachusetts — particularly in low-wage jobs — are feeling unsafe and unprotected at work. That’s according to a new study by two researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst’s Labor Center, Clare Hammonds and Jasmine Kerrissey.
In a survey of 1,600 essential workers in the region, the researchers found that 51 percent said that they do not feel safe at work. The survey found that 65 percent are unable to practice social distancing at work, 21 percent lack masks in the workplace, 17 percent lack hand sanitizer, 8 percent are unable to their wash their hands regularly, and 16 percent said their employers asked them to not share their health information with co-workers.
In particular, 67 percent of grocery and other retail employees reported feeling unsafe at work. Low-wage workers were two to three times more likely than high-wage workers to lack access to safety measures, the study found. And 36 percent of those low-wage workers also reported being unable to meet their family’s food needs in the previous week, with food insecurity concentrated among Latino workers. The study defines low-wage workers as earning less than $20 per hour and high-wage workers as earning more than $40 per hour.
“There are many who are claiming that the coronavirus is the great equalizer,” Kerrissey said. “Really what this points out is that the impacts of COVID-19 are felt much more strongly by the working class and low-wage workers.”
The figures come as some communities in the western part of the state are being hit particularly hard by the coronavirus. The Springfield metro area, for example, is eighth in the country in confirmed COVID-19 deaths per 1,000 residents, according to data compiled by The New York Times. The Greenfield metro area is 12th on that list.
The report notes that many low-wage workers often lack the option of quitting if they feel unsafe. One unnamed worker said in the study: “We are not heroes because it is not a choice.”
“The COVID-19 pandemic has both accelerated and elevated some of these existing inequalities in our labor market,” Hammonds said. “And it makes them so much more visible and salient when the workers asked to take the greatest risks with their own health and safety are the workers who are often experiencing the least compensation for that.”
The report highlighted several industries with particularly concerning safety practices. It notes that around one-third of transportation workers reported not having the ability to regularly wash their hands, no access to hand sanitizer and no employer-provided masks. Of those transportation workers, 60 percent said they are unable to practice social distancing at work.
Another group that felt particularly unsafe were grocery and retail workers, who reported high levels of interactions, with members of the public not always following social-distancing and safety guidelines. Sometimes, employers will not step in to enforce those boundaries, these workers reported.
Only 20 percent of the survey’s respondents reported receiving hazard pay, and 17 percent said they do not receive sick leave. Around half said they would be unable to use paid time off if a family member were to get sick.
The recommendations Hammonds and Kerrissey make for improving the situation of essential workers include: expanded enforcement of health and safety protections, as well as municipal ordinances; hazard pay; and the protection of workers’ rights to organize and engage in collective action.
Hammonds noted there has been an increase in labor unrest over the last several years, and that the stress of the current economic collapse is sparking even more strikes, walkouts and other actions.
“I think the question is how that gets translated into some sort of more permanent organizations so that workers can be part of the conversation about health and safety on their job, and part of the conversation about how we shape the economic recovery,” Hammonds said.
At the end of April, Gov. Charlie Baker named his 17-member Reopening Advisory Board, meant to inform the administration on strategies to reopen the economy. The administration came under criticism for failing to include an occupational health and safety expert or anyone from organized labor on the body.