Stories tagged: "Essential workers"
Food service workers were deemed essential during the early stages of the pandemic, but most are still not prioritized for vaccination.
The group recommends protecting those among the most likely to contract the virus: workers who can’t work from home and older Americans who have represented a disproportionate percentage of hospitalizations and deaths.
Tens of thousands of frontline workers across the country are going on strike Monday to protest systemic racism and police brutality and to demand that corporations and the government take action to address white supremacy, end economic exploitation of Black workers, and allow all workers to unionize.
“The people who are getting sick right now are generally people who are working,” Dr. Mark Escott, a regional health official, told city council members in Austin, Texas.“ That risk is going to increase the more people are working.”
“My boss told us if we needed to find other jobs we could do it, but I need to keep my job where I'm kind of furloughed because I also still have both my sons on my health insurance. So I had to try to balance it all out."
Reporter Janelle Cogan shares what it's like to date and live with an "essential worker," and opens up about the stress and anxiety it entails.
“We have a responsibility to make sure essential workers have the protections they need, the rights they are entitled to, and the compensation they deserve.”
