IRS relents, providing masks for 10,000 returning workers (Politico)

Thank God for free democratic labor unions and collective bargaining.

Yesterday, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service ordered 10,000 employees to return to work with masks, while asking employees to bring their won.

Today, the IRS relented. Providing safety equipment is a legal, moral and ethical duty, even for the IRS.

Unions make us stronger. Unions save lives.

From Politico:



FINANCE AND TAX
IRS providing face masks to recalled employees
The IRS last week said workers voluntarily returning would be required to bring face coverings from home.
Worker makes protective masks
The IRS has obtained three-ply surgical masks, disinfectant and hand sanitizer for employees returning to work, according to the PMA. | Paul Sancya/AP Photo

By AARON LORENZO
04/28/2020 01:52 PM EDT
Politico

IRS employees voluntarily returning to work this week are being given disposable face masks, and the agency is taking other precautions as it attempts to return to more normal service levels, said two organizations representing workers and managers.

IRS officials told the National Treasury Employees Union the agency “had obtained quantities of disposable masks for each location so any employee without a mask was provided one by the agency,” said Tony Reardon, the union’s national president, in a statement on Tuesday.

The IRS hasn't responded to inquiries from POLITICO about how many workers have returned; the NTEU and the Professional Managers Association, which represents agency management, didn't provide numbers either.

When the IRS asked last week for thousands of workers to voluntarily return to 10 locations, it said the agency might not be able to obtain personal protective equipment, or PPE, for all of them. It said they would be required to bring face coverings from home.

Since then, the IRS has obtained three-ply surgical masks, disinfectant and hand sanitizer for employees returning to work, according to the PMA.

However, in a statement issued Monday, PMA National President Chad Hooper said the IRS should indicate if the agency would supply PPE for a “meaningful” length of time. Hooper also requested the IRS give guidance to managers on whether employees would need to remove their face coverings as they go through building security and how to handle employees who don’t adhere to federal health guidelines.

According to Reardon, the IRS said returning workers would operate at a “proper” distance from one another and cleaning is being increased in common areas and “high-touch points.”

The NTEU on Monday issued numerous conditions the IRS and other agencies should meet before requiring workers to return to their offices, including that state and local stay-at-home orders be lifted first.

Its other demands included proof of thorough cleaning; widespread access to tests for federal employees; adequate sanitizer and disinfectant supplies; a voluntary maximum telework policy; workspaces that allow for safe physical distancing; a process for taking employee temperatures before they enter a building; continued telework or weather and safety leave for those at high-risk; and providing cloth face coverings.