AFL-CIO, Labor Department spar over workplace safety amid COVID-19

A tense debate over worker protection under the threat of coronavirus has been taking place between the administration and labor despite the shutdown of many institutions.

The Labor Department released written testimony from the head of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration on Wednesday even though the House hearing it would have been delivered at was postponed. And it came one day after the department issued a new enforcement policy on COVID-19 safety in the workplace.

The undelivered testimony by Loren Sweatt, the principal deputy assistant secretary for occupational safety and health, said the department’s informal guidance setting out best practices for nursing