?Slap in the face?: American Red Cross workers describe exploitative work conditions

Workers at the American Red Cross charity are speaking out about what they say is low pay, chronic understaffing, poor working conditions throughout the pandemic and proposed cuts to their healthcare.

"The morale is at an all time low in my 23 years of history here," said Darryl Ford, a collection technician at American Red Cross in Warner Robins, Georgia, and president of local union branch USW L254.

He described Red Cross' response to the pandemic as business as usual, as the non-profit ramped up blood drives anywhere they were able to hold them, since many typical blood drive sites closed when the pandemic hit.

Ford also criticized the American Red Cross for doing little to nothing to clarify to the public that the blood donation drives were just testing for Covid-19 antibodies, not performing Covid-19 testing and providing inadequate PPE to workers.

Due to the low pay, scheduling problems and working conditions, Ford noted that American Red Cross in his region experienced workers leaving throughout the pandemic.

"People are quitting," added Ford. "It's a slap in the face to the employees for management to say 'we're going to cut your healthcare and not pay you anything, while we're going to work from home and be safe.'"

The Coalition of American Red Cross Unions, which represents about 4,900 workers from 11 international unions at American Red Cross across the US, is bargaining with the American Red Cross over the national addendum to the unions' contracts, which expires on 31 March 2022.