The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union is stepping in where it says the government has failed, running its own coronavirus contact-tracing program for 1.3 million members.
Since the coronavirus outbreak hit the U.S., the union has sent agents into grocery stores, meatpacking plants and food-processing facilities.
They talk to workers and comb work schedules to figure out who might have been exposed. Then, they notify the employer's human resources department and direct workers to free testing sites, some provided by the union.
County health departments are often overwhelmed, and with no national tracking system, workers must fend for themselves, said Marc Perrone, international president of the union.
"The counties really don't have the resources at this point in time to ultimately be able to do that, and they haven't," he said. "In the vacuum, we are trying to serve that role."
The union is using business agents and shop stewards to fill in the gap. Among its grocery, meatpacking and food-processing members, there have been at least 223 deaths from COVID-19. More than 34,000 front-line workers have been infected or exposed.
Among the outbreaks have been several meatpacking plants in Minnesota, including the JBS pork plant in Worthington.
Local UFCW 663 in Minnesota works with companies — from supermarkets to meat plants — as best it can to help with contact tracing, said Matthew Utecht, the local president.