Workday Magazine (https://workdaymagazine.org/category/community/page/9/)
As coronavirus spreads, sowing panic and economic dislocation, unions across the country are using the crisis as an opportunity to call for priorities that were dismissed as left-wing fantasies not long ago—and now seem like common sense.
According to a Gallup poll from 2019, 25% of people in the United States say they or a family member “put off treatment for a serious medical condition in the past year because of the cost.”
As the concern over Covid-19 seeps into every part of our lives, various forms of work are also impacted. From frontline healthcare workers, theater stagehands, or hourly workers, life is changing drastically. At Workday, we appreciate that whether or not you are infected, your life is changing quickly. We want to hear your stories. Please email us here.
The first two characteristics of a potential COVID-19 slowdown—that it could come fast and come straight for low-wage workers first—suggest one potential response: rapid direct payments to individuals.
Our health care workers and first responders do not have the necessary resources and equipment or adequate training and communication available to protect them from contracting, and spreading, this virus.
Throughout the last week workers and their advocates took to the streets to make their voices heard.
Union tradeswomen celebrated the most badass among them at a spirited awards ceremony in Minneapolis last night
Gov. Tim Walz has declared this week “Grain Bin Safety Week” in light of several fatalities in Minnesota and across the country.
Elected officials and social-service groups are pledging to make affordable housing a priority in the Twin Cities. But one agency says the metro area could see even greater numbers of people needing help with housing.
Another crucial player in Sanders’ New Hampshire coalition: organized labor. One of the state’s largest unions—the over 10,000-member State Employees’ Association of New Hampshire/SEIU Local 1984—endorsed the Vermont senator last month.