Saving Seafood

JOELLE HALL: Alaskans need answers on Copper River Seafoods investigation

March 11, 2021 — As the president of the Alaska AFL-CIO, Alaska’s largest labor organization, my responsibility is to fight for workers’ rights, whether they belong to a union or not.

Protecting workers’ health and safety has been at the forefront of our work during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Recent media reports have uncovered that Commissioner of Labor Tamika Ledbetter blocked nearly $450,000 in proposed fines against a seafood plant that willfully violated COVID-19 workplace safety standards and was hostile with public health officials from the State of Alaska and the Municipality of Anchorage.

The question is, why?

Were the violations mild and isolated, causing them to fall through the cracks of an overburdened department?

Read the full opinion piece at the Anchorage Daily News

Alaska safety inspectors tried to fine Copper River Seafoods $450,000. Their commissioner blocked it.

March 4, 2021 — Department of Labor commissioner Tamika Ledbetter blocked nearly $450,000 in fines against a seafood plant her own inspectors said willfully violated COVID-19 workplace safety standards, according to internal documents.

Now, state lawmakers are investigating.

House Rep. Zack Fields, an Anchorage Democrat who used to work for the Department of Labor, said he and his Labor & Commerce committee co-chair got a complaint from a whistleblower that Ledbetter was blocking enforcement of state workplace safety standards.

“Alaskans have to work to provide for their families,” Fields said. “When they go to work, they shouldn’t have to risk their lives to put food on the table.”

Fields’ committee is holding a hearing to address questions about a Copper River Seafoods plant in Anchorage and Juneau-based Alaska Glacier Seafoods. Both companies had large COVID-19 outbreaks last year.

Read the full story at Alaska Public Media