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Together, we can ensure that the conditions of work promote the

health and well-being of workers and communities.

September 2022 Newsletter

Updates from the Center

U-POWER is pleased to announce the release of our Mini Grant program dedicated to supporting community-initiated projects relevant to Total Worker Health®. We offer both financial awards (amounts between $500-$2,500) as well as in-kind support (consultations, technical assistance, and payment of fees). Mini grants can support any activities in the following three categories:

 

1)    Partnership Development

2)    Project Development

3)    Pilot Project

 

U-POWER’s Mini Grant program is dedicated to empowering community members and organizations to expand the community of practice. Funds may be used in any number of ways, including mileage or food support, payment of fees, travel, technical assistance, transcriptions services, and more.

 

The mini grant process is designed to be accessible, inclusive, and welcoming. We offer assistance with the application at any stage of the process, from project conceptualization to writing to budgeting. For more information about mini grants, please visit our website. For assistance with applications or to discuss a potential application, please contact Camie Schaefer.

U-POWER Deep Dive: Paid Sick Leave

As negotiations between railroad companies and unions continue, one of the major messages that have been put forth might be surprising to those who think strikes are all about increased pay. One of the major points of negotiation for the rail employee unions was the need for sick leave.


Dennis Pierce, president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, explained their reasoning, noting that “we’re just looking for time away from work to address our medical issues. Union Pacific and BNSF attendance policies are assessing (penalty) points to our members when they just want to take time off for their regular medical appointments.” For these workers, medical leave—whether it was paid or unpaid—was critical to a healthy work-life balance. Vacations had to be scheduled far in advance, which left railroad workers unable to tend to medical needs or take care of family members. The resulting agreement (which has yet to be fully approved by railroad unions) offered a remedy, not in the form of paid sick leave, but through policies allowing workers to access medical care without being penalized.


The railroad industry isn’t alone in lacking access to sick leave. Most low-wage workers in America are unable to take needed time without losing income. Pew Research found that half of the workers earning wages in the lowest quarter ($13.80 or less per hour) have no paid sick leave, and that percentage (31%) is even more dire for those who earn $10.80 or less per hour. For these workers, something as simple as a bout with the common cold can lead to economic insecurity, while long-term medical issues like cancer, heart disease, or diabetes can be catastrophic.

Most other countries with similar market economies and industrialization have recognized this issue and implemented mandatory paid sick leave. The United States, however, lags behind, with only 14 states (and a few local areas) mandating sick leave. The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) of 1993 does offer access to unpaid sick and care time, but disproportionately excludes women of all races as well as Black, Indigenous, Hispanic/Latino, and multiracial workers. Read on to learn more about how this affects workers, public health, and equity. 

Coming to Work Sick 

Before COVID-19 changed Americans’ perceptions of illness and infection, one survey from a human resource consulting firm found that 90% of Americans, or at least 20 million workers annually went to work sick. Although many respondents cited overwhelming workloads and pressure from supervisors,  40% stated that they either didn’t have or didn’t have sufficient paid sick leave. While COVID certainly has changed many the outlook of many Americans, a 2022 survey from the Shift Project found that 65% of hourly workers went to work when they were sick to avoid income loss and job insecurity. 

"Simply put, Americans who have sick leave stay home when they're sick. So, they don't spread disease to their co-workers as often, they don't send their children to school when they're sick, so their kids don't spread it as often and they don't work as service providers. We know that sick leave makes it dramatically less likely that people spread disease. If you don't have sick leave, you're twice as likely to send your child to school or daycare sick." 


                      -Dr. Jody Heymann, Distinguished Professor and Dean Emeritus                                     of UCLA's Fielding School of Public Health

Paid Sick Leave: A Question of Work and Health Equity


Paid sick leave might at first glance seem a work issue connected only to healthy and equitable workplaces. However, access to paid sick leave can prevent the transmission of illness both within workplaces and other social settings (e.g. childcare). Researchers have found that paid sick leave is linked to increased utilization of preventive healthcare, both for adults and children, and that paid sick leave may offer a protective effect against heart disease and unintentional injury rates. Paid sick leave is also associated with improved sleep and decreased psychological stress, both of which are markers of well-being.


We can also see connections between health disparities and work inequities. One study found that the American workers who lacked sick leave were also more likely to receive support from the social security net (welfare, rental assistance, nutrition assistance, child support). Hispanic/Latino workers, as well as women, are much less likely to receive paid sick leave, which can further exacerbate disparities. 


The solution is simple. Paid sick leave is known to improve public health and reduce inequality in the labor market and only increases labor costs by $0.21 - $0.45 per hour. But do workers have to strike to receive equitable leave policies? Not necessarily. Mandates like those recently instituted in Washington are an effective means of rapidly increasing access to paid sick leave and all its associated benefits. 

Upcoming Events from U-POWER

September U-POWER Seminar Series: The Role of Labor Unions in Creating Working Conditions that Promote Public Health

 

As America waits to see if railroad workers will declare a strike, interest in unionization is rising among workers and stakeholders who see worker organization as a path to achieving work equity. However, a societal distrust of unions has led to historically low rates of organizing, with only 10.3% of American workers belonging to a union in 2021.

Unionization has long been linked to higher wages, but as the potential railroad strikers will attest, unions can transform other elements of work: access to sick leave, workplace hazards protections, and working hour limits.


Unions have been recognized by the American Public Health Association (APHA) as essential in promoting healthy working conditions and democratic participation. However, organized labor can potentially improve public health beyond individual workplaces.



Join U-POWER for a discussion of The Role of Labor Unions in Creating Working Conditions That Promote Public Health by Hagedorn, Paras, Greenwich, and Hagopian (2016) to learn more about how organized labor is connected to the social determinants of health, how public health practitioners and labor organizers can learn from each other, and the essential links between work and health equity. 


This event will be held on September 29, 2022 at 4:00 pm (MST).


Join us at:

https://utah.zoom.us/j/96021703005

Passcode: 367131

Join us at the 3rd International Symposium to Advance Total Worker Health®!

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The International Symposium to Advance Total Worker Health® will bring together an audience of safety and health professionals, employers, researchers, policymakers, labor representatives, and members of the academic community. The Symposium, held October 11-14, 2022 at the NIH headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland, will examine opportunities to make workplaces safer and improve the health and well-being of the global workforce. Learn more at the event webpage.

U-POWER Community of Practice

U-POWER Spotlight: What is a Community of Practice?


One of U-POWER's major goals is to facilitate a community of practice, or "a group of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly" (Wenger and Lave, 1991). U-POWER's community of practice is dedicated to achieving safe, healthy, and equitable work.


Individuals in the community of practice may be any of the following:

  • Key personnel in U-POWER
  • Faculty, staff, and students at the University of Utah that engage with and support U-POWER
  • Partners and stakeholders from diverse groups and organizations, including the NIOSH Total Worker Health (TWH) Program and Centers of Excellence in TWH, researchers, community groups, labor organizations, and workers who share concerns about workers’ safety, health, and well-being

"It seems that nothing promotes efficient, deep, and direct learning better than a personal mentor. Why not tap into a network full of them? A “community of practice” brings together individuals with a shared interest through a structure that encourages deep listening and results in a very direct exchange of knowledge."

Community partners and stakeholders, including individual workers and organizations, are vital to our mission of forming a community of practice. In a community of practice, stakeholders join together to share their specific expertise and form a living body of knowledge. Community partners contribute local knowledge and experience, including the specific needs of a community, that cannot be found in research. Academic scholars can, in turn, offer research and scholarship in support of those needed changes.

Work equity is a complex societal problem "embedded in the historical, sociopolitical, economic, and cultural features of society." A community of practice can together begin to understand these complex and intertwined forces and develop new knowledge in support of change. Check out the figure above for a look into how the community of practice functions. 

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Join U-POWER as an Affiliate Member

"Community-based research is necessary to remove the various social, cultural, and logistical barriers that confound the well-intentioned efforts of many public health programs. . . such research has the simultaneous ability to empower communities worldwide through collaboration and partnership."

U-POWER's Community of Practice

Are you concerned about changing the conditions of work? Would you like to see Total Worker Health advanced? Consider joining U-POWER as an Affiliate Member.


Affiliate Members can be researchers conducting work on occupational safety and health, stakeholders from the community, employers, workers, scholars, students, or anyone interested in exploring issues of power at work.


At U-POWER, we believe in the importance of local, specialized knowledge and community engagement. We want to hear your stories, know your input, and share our resources. As we continue to build our center, we want to hear from members of our community. Please consider joining as an Affiliate Member today.


Affiliate members are asked to participate in at least one Center activity annually.


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Total Worker Health® is a registered trademark of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Participation by the Utah Center for Promotion of Work Equity Research (U-POWER) does not imply endorsement by HHS, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.