Protect the rights and health of essential workers
Congress has a responsibility to ensure essential workers have the protections they need, the rights they are entitled to, and the compensation they deserve.
We must ensure essential workers are protected as much as possible through safety standards around personal protective equipment and cleaning procedures that corporations are legally required to abide by for all workers, no matter their immigration or contractor status. Congress must demand hazard pay, sick leave, child care, and healthcare to provide essential workers the same level of protection they are providing us in this crisis.
Republicans were sure to pass a stimulus to support big business, and Democrats were able to push some important relief measures into that same package. But more is needed — much more — and Republicans need to come back to work for the needs of individuals and communities, not just big business. This next relief package needs to ensure rights and protections for our country’s essential workers, who are keeping our society going in this pandemic.
Medical experts agree: The best way to protect ourselves and our communities is to stay home and physically distant as much as possible. But this is not an option for the tens of millions of workers who continue to keep our society functioning with food, clean water, working internet, transportation, medical care, and more. Therefore, we must protect them.
Trent Fogle
Beverly