[The lead plaintiffs include members of the North Carolina Public
Service Workers Union, UE Local 150 and members of the North Carolina
American Association of University Professors.]
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CAMPUS WORKERS SUE UNC SYSTEM, CLAIMING UNSAFE WORKING CONDITIONS
DURING PANDEMIC   [[link removed]]

 

Kate Murphy
August 10, 2020
The News & Observer
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_ The lead plaintiffs include members of the North Carolina Public
Service Workers Union, UE Local 150 and members of the North Carolina
American Association of University Professors. _

UNC-Chapel Hill housekeepers Penny Elliott, left, and Jermany Alston
take shelter from the rain in one of the entrances to Teague Residence
Hall in Chapel Hill, N.C. Monday, August 3, 2020. Elliott and Alston
were on their lunch break. , Ethan Hyman [email protected]

 

North Carolina university employees are suing the UNC System, saying
working conditions are unsafe as tens of thousands of students return
to campuses during the coronavirus pandemic.

“Essential workers across UNC System campuses continue to report to
work with inadequate protective equipment to ensure their safety,”
the UE150, NC Public Service Workers Union said in a statement Monday.

Some university employees, including housekeepers and other campus
workers, are provided one or two masks per week and many don’t have
access to face shields or gowns, according to the union. And the
universities’ safety measures have proved to be “inadequate” as
multiple workers have tested positive for COVID-19, the union said.

The policy failures also “inevitably fall hardest on Black and Brown
workers’ shoulders, putting them at risk during a pandemic that
disproportionately impacts their health,” the union said.

The group, which represents housekeepers, professors and other staff,
is asking the court to require that the UNC System “fulfill its
non-delegable duty to provide conditions of employment and a place of
employment free of hazards that are likely to cause serious harm, even
death, to employees,” according to the union.

‘Something needs to be done’

Jermany Alston, UNC-Chapel Hill housekeeper, union member and lead
plaintiff, has been working throughout the summer to keep residence
halls clean for students’ return. She helped lead a protest and
deliver demands to university administrators explaining the threat
that university workers face every day
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they go to work.

“We bring UNC the concerns and the administrators say they’re
going to fix it, but nothing ever comes of it,” Alston said in a
statement. “It gets swept under the rug.”

She said workers are scared for their health, but are also scared to
complain.

“UNC doesn’t care about us but we are here helping them out, and
we could put our families in jeopardy,” Alston said. “It’s sad.
Something needs to be done one way or another.”

Herb Richmond, director of UNC-CH’s Housekeeping Services
Department, said in a statement to The News & Observer recently, “I
understand their uneasiness because being a front-line worker during a
pandemic is frightening.

“I think about their well-being every day and it’s more important
now than ever that we stay vigilant and protect each other.”

Richmond said he was talking with campus leaders about how UNC-CH can
adapt to address their concerns and provide crews with the protective
equipment they need to do their jobs safely and feel comfortable on
campus.

The lead plaintiffs include members of the North Carolina Public
Service Workers Union, UE Local 150 and members of the North Carolina
American Association of University Professors. The group is
represented by Wilmington-based attorney Gary Shipman, a former UNC
Wilmington Board of Trustees member.

The lawsuit comes after weeks of campus protests
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petitions
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from university students, staff and faculty who are concerned about
universities’ reopening plans
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fear COVID-19 will spread during the fall semester. Local health
officials in Orange County have also advised against starting
in-person classes
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August and students living in dorms at this stage of the pandemic. And
Chapel Hill leaders worry that student behavior off-campus is putting
the college town and community at risk.
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Classes started Monday at UNC, NC State

The UNC System moved classes online and shut down residence halls
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when there were less than 10 cases reported in North Carolina in the
spring. Now, universities are reopening with some in-person classes
and students living in dorms when the state is reporting thousands or
hundreds of new cases daily and more than a thousand people are
hospitalized.

“Things are far worse now than in March, 2020, and we contend that
the law does not permit the University of North Carolina system or the
Governor to force these Employees to work in conditions that place
them at an increased risk of getting sick, being unable to work, being
hospitalized, and even dying,” Shipman said in a statement Monday.

Hundreds of cases have also been reported among students, employees
and outside workers on UNC System campuses since March. Most recently,
UNC-Chapel Hill reported more than 40 cases on campus in the past
three weeks.

UNC System leadership has maintained that universities are reopening
safely this fall with adjustments to campus operations and guidelines
in place to protect students, faculty and staff from the spread of
COVID-19.

Students have moved into dorms at several universities across the
state and in-person classes began at UNC-Chapel Hill, N.C. State
University
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other UNC System schools on Monday. Some institutions, including UNC
Pembroke and Fayetteville State University, started on Aug. 5.

This lawsuit is “a safety net, an attempt to keep us from going over
a cliff,” UNCW lead plaintiff Associate Professor Wendy Brenner said
in a statement.

The case was filed in Wake County and seeks to be a class-action
lawsuit.

Read more here:
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