In the current crisis, workers who have been deemed “essential” are being abused by their employers and left unprotected by their government. Many of these workers face rising deaths due to improper protection at the workplace, and have organized, marched, and gone on strike in recent months.
In California, farmworkers have been facing fires, heat waves and the pandemic all at once, and many have been forced to keep working to make a living, often without proper protective equipment.
The federal government, along with some state and local governments, has tried to force teachers and other education employees back into in-person learning with no guarantees of safety for students or employees.
Nurses say they are still working in short-staffed hospitals, forced to work when they have tested positive for Covid-19, and not being given the proper protective equipment to protect themselves and their patients.
On this page we highlight a story of a group of essential workers organizing to defend themselves from corporate negligence and government inaction, as are others. Workers have a right to expect that their government will protect everyone’s life during this pandemic. Maximum pressure must be put on government at every level to force it to act on behalf of the people, not the corporations.
– The Editors
