Covid-19
US plastics factory workers at mercy of vague shutdown guidelines
‘Workers face a terrible decision of going to work or perhaps not getting paid’
Delaware — On April 2, workers at a small plastics factory owned by Charter NEX US 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. [Two] 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 said that sanitisation stopped at the break room and locker area, skipping the machines used in producing plastic...
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