Organized labor has always been a champion for worker safety. Our steadfast adherence to establishing and maintaining a safe workplace and safe practices has reaped huge rewards for everyone who labors for a living.

During this global medical crisis, safety in the workplace is now front and center in the minds of all employees returning to work. But how do you organize workplace safety when the threat is a virus that can float in the air, residing on items touched by everyone? We must accept this challenge and rise to meet it.

Unions have a renewed urgency to help ensure a safe place for people to work during this pandemic. We must be active and vigilant in our daily lives, continuing to promote the need for safety from a deadly foe that is unseen.

We must also be keenly aware of the medical issues that now define the way we approach and interact with others. And even though unions have been champions for safety of our members, we must now be champions for the safety of every person and family regardless of affiliation.

Let unions be the tip of the spear in caring for everyone we encounter as we pass through this time of horror that shows no signs of abating any time soon.

Reggie Marselus, Local 124 member
Kansas City, Mo.