As everyone struggles to respond to the COVID19 crisis, we must continue to press for policies that protect workers. This crisis continues to disproportionately impact front-line essential workers and communities of color. We need to push elected officials at the state and federal level to make sure that the people who keep us going are protected and that their work is respected. Now is the time to contact your elected officials and ensure that they Put Workers First.
The AFL-CIO and MSFF encourage you to press federal, state, and local governments to create a new economy that works for working people.
- Keep America healthy by extending healthcare to all, including funds for mass testing, treatment for the infected, COBRA support for those who have lost their employer-provided insurance, and paid sick and FMLA leave for all.
- Keep front-line workers safe and secure by providing PPE for all essential workers, provide whistle-blower protections for front-line workers who report unsafe working conditions, and pass an enforceable infectious disease standard for employers who ask their workers to return. These workers include janitorial workers, those in medical fields, first responders, grocery and retail workers, farm workers and food processors, government workers, and any others asked to return to workplaces.
- Keep workers employed and protect earned pensions by fully funding existing pension programs and directing federal stimulus to maximize employment over profits.
- Keep USPS, state governments, and public schools solvent to ensure that essential state and federal services are maintained and that workers in these sectors are allowed to continue their mission of public service.
- Keep America competitive by investing in rebuilding crumbling infrastructure.
Only when workers are safe and healthy and jobs are secure can we begin to emerge from this crisis. It is time for all workers to stand together and demand that the crisis response does not leave workers behind. In Solidarity.
