Plastics Factory Workers Want to Know How Essential Their Products Really Are
Vagueness in state guidelines for which businesses can stay open leaves employees feeling vulnerable.
Shelves at the Target department store in Wadsworth, Ohio are empty of consumer products such as sanitizer a day after Ohio Governor Mike DeWine put in place a stay-at-home order.
Photographer: Dustin Franz for The Washington Post via Getty ImagesOn April 2, workers at a small plastics factory owned by Charter NEX US Inc. in Delaware, Ohio were brought into the human resources office in pairs and informed that a maintenance worker was likely infected with Covid-19. “They sent the maintenance guy home but no one else,” someone posted on a local Facebook group as the situation unfolded. “They are in here cleaning this place right now. 2 people all in white safety suits cleaning all while we are running production.”
Interviews with two production line employees backed up the anonymous post, and the company confirmed it; eventually a total of five employees were sent home to quarantine for two weeks with full pay. Charter NEX’s management said the cleaning crew disinfected the entire facility, but workers told Bloomberg that sanitization stopped at the break room and locker area, skipping the machines used in producing plastic.