Employees at a private Wisconsin company, owned by two major Republican donors in the United States, have faced significantly higher rates of Covid-19 infection and have filed numerous complaints about workplace safety to federal authorities, according to an investigation by the Guardian on Uline.
Dick and Liz Uihlein, the billionaire founders of the packaging and office supplies company Uline who have been dubbed “the most powerful conservatives you’ve never heard of”, criticized Wisconsin homeowners requests and, fear some employees, used their considerable political influence to try to defy state security rules.
An internal document seen by the Guardian shows that at least 14% of Uline’s corporate workforce has tested positive for Covid-19 since last April, compared to 8.7% of the population in Kenosha County, where the company’s corporate office is located. located.
Nearly 19% of the company’s Illinois workplace tested positive, 23% of its California-based workforce and almost 27% of its Texas workforce.
A complaint lodged with federal worker safety regulators, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, received in July 2020, described risks in the workplace, including: social detachment guidance not being applied; wearing a loose mask inside the office; symptomatic employees being able to continue working without facial coverings; and employees being forced to return to work in close contact with other people, even when they could work from home.
In one case, the complaint also pointed to the fact that the company is organizing a “lunch and learn” meeting with former Wisconsin governor Scott Walker. A photograph of the meeting showed employees without a mask sitting next to each other listening to Walker, a Republican, also without a mask.
Uline declined to comment.
In response to Osha, documents seen by the Guardian show that Uline told federal regulators in his July response that he maintained his “office culture” but allowed employees to work remotely “where possible”.
The company also said that it made special accommodations for people who were considered “high risk” according to CDC guidelines on a “case by case” basis.
Uline also said that he “encourages” the use of masks in common areas and on trips around the building and that disposable masks were made available to guests and employees “free”.
Osha said in a letter to the official who filed the complaint that he thought the “case could be closed” based on Uline’s response.
Current employees and former employees interviewed by the Guardian describe a work environment that they believe to have a random approach to security and in which the founders’ conservative political views – including their opposition to Wisconsin’s stay-at-home orders, which Uline said he followed per – permeate the work environment.
Uline corporate office workers are also required to follow strict dress rules, including, for women, making sure that their jacket is closed when walking through the building and wearing pantyhose with skirts from November to April.
“The official HR material will say ‘distance’, but most people don’t really distance themselves. Liz holds meetings without masks, ”said an official who agreed to speak with the Guardian.
“Honestly, I feel that Liz and Dick are so powerful that they can do whatever they want. I feel like the government can’t even protect the people here, ”said the official.
Part of the feeling of helplessness, the person said, stems from knowing how politically powerful the Uihleins are. The couple donated $ 80 million to Republican candidates and causes in the 2020 election, including to support Donald Trump’s campaign.
Richard Uihlein almost funded an Illinois-based political action committee with a $ 24.5 million donation in the 2020 election cycle. The group, called Restoration Pac, spent nearly $ 19 million attacking Democratic candidates in the last election cycle – in eight disputes. Seven of the eight Democrats the group attacked, including Joe Biden, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, won their races. Restoration PAC lists four main priorities on its website: “stop antifa”, eliminate planned Parenthood funding, “support the police” and implement voter identification laws.
The Guardian previously reported that uihleins lobbied Wisconsin’s rules of stay at home during the early stage of the pandemic and claimed that the crisis was “exaggerated”. The couple later tested positive for Covid-19. Among other actions, the couple issued a petition to officials for Democratic governor Tony Evers to be removed from office. At the time, last April, Liz Uihlein told the Guardian in a short telephone interview that only 15 Uline employees had tested positive for the virus.
Experts who closely follow Wisconsin policy say the uihleins have been a powerful force shaping state policy, including support for state Republican lawmakers and former Governor Walker, whose allies now serve as judges at the state’s supreme court.
“During the pandemic, we heard a lot of complaints that they were not taking public health guidelines as seriously as they should and that employees were being told they should work in person, even though they knew they could do their job remotely,” said Melissa Baldauff, a Democratic strategist and former senior adviser to Governor Evers.
She added: “They were definitely one of the loudest voices against the governor’s efforts to keep people safe … It’s a very good strategy if you can afford it, buy the legislature and buy the [state] Supreme Court. That way, you will have a guaranteed victory, no matter what. They basically got two of the three branches of government. “