Essential workers find themselves in harm’s way on a daily basis. 32BJ SEIU has collaborated with elected officials to get more support for essential workers in Congress.
The janitors, doorpersons, security officers and all other property service workers have called on Congress to help essential workers with essential pay, more personal protection equipment (PPE) and layoff protections in the form of an economic relief and recovery.
“Congress should do all it can to protect essential workers so they have full access to emergency relief like layoff protection, essential pay and personal protective equipment to avoid infection,” stated Kyle Bragg, President of 32BJ SEIU. “32BJ members are united in demanding that Congress take action and have sent 100,000 messages to Congress in the last few weeks.”
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a record 20.5 million Americans lost their jobs in April. Due to the enormity of the situation, workers who put their lives in danger want protections they don’t have on the job. Hipolito Andon, a porter in a midtown Manhattan building, said that people like him highlight the importance of their job and Congress should honor them in a similar way.
“I’m risking it all on the frontlines,” stated Andon. “To make this job worth it, I need essential pay and a steady supply of PPE. At the end of the day, I could be laid off, and then what would my family do? We cannot struggle and be left behind like this while COVID-19 takes the lives of frontline workers.”
Data shows that African Americans and Latinos are twice as likely to die of the coronavirus as white Americans are. Many essential service workers are immigrants and people of color who mostly live in low-income neighborhoods and have to use public transportation to commute to the affluent areas they work in. Because of this, their risk of COVID-19 exposure is higher than most. This information has led local and national elected officials to push Congress and Pres. Donald Trump’s administration to honor essential workers with more protections.
In a letter, more than 350 state and local officials in the northeast demanded that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell adopt measures to protect essential workers in their region.
“In order for our nation’s economy to be able to spring back into recovery, it will be important that commercial office buildings, educational facilities, airports, multi-family residential buildings, and other buildings and facilities are fully functioning, sanitary, secure, and in good repair once the health crisis passes,” read part of the letter. “It is not possible for property service workers to perform their duties remotely and they brave long commutes to fulfill their responsibilities––often without essential personal protective equipment, such as gloves and masks.”
In another letter sent to Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, 92 congresspeople urged both parties to make sure protections for essential workers are included in any bailout.
“Many property service workers are continuing to do this important work during the crisis because they have been properly designated as essential workers,” read part of the letter. “It is not possible for property service workers to perform their duties remotely and they brave long commutes to fulfill their responsibilities––often without essential personal protective equipment (PPE), such as gloves and masks. Therefore, the next legislative package must include provisions detailing requirements to provide PPE to these essential workers. We cannot continue to allow them to face the risks associated with continuing to do their work during a pandemic without proper protection and compensation.”
According to 32BJ SEIU officials, to date, more than 100 of its members have died from COVID-19. The union members have, according to 32BJ SEIU, sent 100,000 messages and calls to members of Congress demanding that the next relief package include PPE, essential pay and layoff protections for frontline workers.
Marcus Johnson, a custodian at Boston College for 13 years, said he works scared but he understands the importance of his job. He said he just wants the pay and treatment from the powers that be to make his job worth it.
“The work I’m doing now is more essential than ever, and I’m proud to be keeping Boston College clean and safe,” stated Johnson. “But, of course, I am also afraid. I’ve started walking the 45 minutes to work on nicer days in order to avoid public transportation. As an African American man over 50 with a history of heart issues, I’m terrified of catching this, as some of my co-workers have. At the same time I’m afraid of losing my job, as more than 20,000 of my fellow 32BJ sisters and brothers have. I am a single person and I don’t have a safety net to fall back on.
“I need to be able to support myself,” stated Johnson.