Workers rights strategies to save lives
Posted: Tue Apr 28, 2020 10:43 am
Mayor: Thank you for your post from yesterday, and I look forward to this discussion during today’s work session.
The Mayor’s post, and our health experts, point out a real need for increased protections and rights for workers. We need to accelerate a conversation about how sick or vulnerable workers can stay at home.
Sick Time: Due to the Attorney General’s lawsuit against Austin (and Dallas and San Antonio), and due to major gaps in recent federal legislation, large companies over 500 employees are exempt from having to provide sick time for COVID symptoms. Smaller businesses are required to provide sick time by the federal law, but these large companies are—shamefully-- exempt. We must discuss how to ensure all sick workers, especially those with COVID symptoms or those in COVID symptomatic households, stay home.
Vulnerable workers: Furthermore, workers who would face real dangers if they contract COVID-19 may be forced to go to work. These are people with underlying health conditions, workers who are older, and workers who are caring for a vulnerable person at home. If their employer refuses to allow them to telework, then those workers face an impossible choice. If they quit their jobs (or are fired because they refused to put themselves in a dangerous position), then they likely will not have access to traditional unemployment benefits. Special, pandemic unemployment benefits may be available to some of these workers who can get doctors’ orders to self-quarantine—although definitely not all vulnerable workers can get pandemic benefits.
We must find a way to give these workers the opportunity to work from home, stay at home, be trained into a telework job, or otherwise be protected. Employers must also be held accountable to not endanger these most vulnerable employees or their families. Workers must know their rights, be organized and supported to exercise those rights, and they must have access to safe options for themselves and their families.
We must accelerate this conversation about workers’ rights. We should be protecting our own employees and those of our contractors; we should be considering how to create such protections in the private workforce by rules, incentives, or programs; we should be training vulnerable workers into telework jobs; we should be supporting workers in accessing the limited pandemic benefits that do exist; and we should be considering how local funds, including CARES funds, can help make sure we prevent needless risk or deaths of these working people.
Colleagues: I am raising this issue here because it is so critical to our crisis strategy. I am ready to work with anyone, and everyone, on the dais on these sorts of solutions to save lives. I’ve asked the City Manager’s office to prioritize these issues and strategies.
-Greg
The Mayor’s post, and our health experts, point out a real need for increased protections and rights for workers. We need to accelerate a conversation about how sick or vulnerable workers can stay at home.
Sick Time: Due to the Attorney General’s lawsuit against Austin (and Dallas and San Antonio), and due to major gaps in recent federal legislation, large companies over 500 employees are exempt from having to provide sick time for COVID symptoms. Smaller businesses are required to provide sick time by the federal law, but these large companies are—shamefully-- exempt. We must discuss how to ensure all sick workers, especially those with COVID symptoms or those in COVID symptomatic households, stay home.
Vulnerable workers: Furthermore, workers who would face real dangers if they contract COVID-19 may be forced to go to work. These are people with underlying health conditions, workers who are older, and workers who are caring for a vulnerable person at home. If their employer refuses to allow them to telework, then those workers face an impossible choice. If they quit their jobs (or are fired because they refused to put themselves in a dangerous position), then they likely will not have access to traditional unemployment benefits. Special, pandemic unemployment benefits may be available to some of these workers who can get doctors’ orders to self-quarantine—although definitely not all vulnerable workers can get pandemic benefits.
We must find a way to give these workers the opportunity to work from home, stay at home, be trained into a telework job, or otherwise be protected. Employers must also be held accountable to not endanger these most vulnerable employees or their families. Workers must know their rights, be organized and supported to exercise those rights, and they must have access to safe options for themselves and their families.
We must accelerate this conversation about workers’ rights. We should be protecting our own employees and those of our contractors; we should be considering how to create such protections in the private workforce by rules, incentives, or programs; we should be training vulnerable workers into telework jobs; we should be supporting workers in accessing the limited pandemic benefits that do exist; and we should be considering how local funds, including CARES funds, can help make sure we prevent needless risk or deaths of these working people.
Colleagues: I am raising this issue here because it is so critical to our crisis strategy. I am ready to work with anyone, and everyone, on the dais on these sorts of solutions to save lives. I’ve asked the City Manager’s office to prioritize these issues and strategies.
-Greg