In the News
What we owe to our workers during this crisisBy Congresswoman Lori Trahan
Washington,
April 14, 2020
Column: What we owe to our workersBy Congresswoman Lori Trahan As businesses of all sizes close their doors to help flatten the curve, workers are fighting on the front lines and under immense pressure to deliver emergency services we need to get through this crisis. Workers, like medical staff at Merrimack Valley Hospital and cashiers at the Stop & Shop in Chelmsford, are fighting through incredible adversity every day to keep us safe and help feed our families. We owe an incredible debt to these folks and all those putting their communities ahead of themselves. Sadly, many medical personnel and front-line workers are the same people who even before this global pandemic were used to facing uphill battles for modest pay raises and better benefits. Yet, for years now, the Trump administration has been rolling back worker protections and proposing dramatic cuts to the Department of Labor and the entities tasked with ensuring worker safety. That’s why it came as no surprise to anyone that the Trump-appointed National Labor Relations Board recently cited COVID-19 as justification to halt all representation elections, including mail ballot elections, for two weeks. This decision, made amid a global pandemic unlike any in modern history, threatened the ability of workers in essential and emergency services to collectively bargain for important improvements to their workplace safety and essential benefits. We owe it to workers who are risking their health and that of their families – our nurses, police officers, firefighters, as well as the hardworking maintenance and cleaning crews – to ensure that they have the power to advocate for basic worker protections. Since day one of this pandemic, House Democrats have fought for two things: saving lives and supporting workers and their families. That’s why we refused to budge in negotiations over the CARES Act, our third emergency relief package, on a provision to require that any mid-size business receiving financial assistance because of the outbreak remain neutral toward organizing efforts by their employees. For workers who are forced from their jobs or furloughed because of this public health crisis, we secured enhanced unemployment benefits, including four months of full pay on average. And for workers and their families struggling to get by, we guaranteed direct cash payments of up to $1,200 per person and $500 per child. We know that as COVID-19 continues to spread and the economic toll continues to rise, Congress must act urgently to craft a fourth stimulus that puts families, not corporations who bought their influence, first. My top priority in this package will be supporting the workers – those showing up every day despite the threat of an enemy they can’t see. After years of neglect, this is a moment that requires us to listen to them – the people of the labor movement – still fighting for fair pay and safer workplaces, even under these circumstances. These hardworking men and women in the trenches of this war deserve people willing to fight for them, and in this next package, we must deliver. |