Graphic: Noelle Bell, Center for Biological Diversity
Thirty labor and environmental organizations nationwide have petitioned the federal government demanding the Trump administration use the Defense Production Act to get personal protective equipment to essential workers.
The emergency rule-making petition has been sent to the Secretaries of Health and Human Services and Homeland Security. It requests a nationwide inventory, increased production and prioritized distribution of respirators, gloves, gowns and other equipment needed to protect workers from COVID-19.
Jean Su, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity who wrote the petition, said “The same types of abuses that are being lodged against workers and workers’ rights are the same types of abuses and exploitation that corporations and the government are thrusting on the environment.”