COVID-19

Unions tap into burst of worker angst over coronavirus

“Maybe these workers will start to understand the value they have for society, because for decades they’ve been told they have no value and that they’re replaceable,” one union official said. CHICAGO — Amazon warehouse workers in New York walked off the job to demand protection against Covid-19. A county judge in Illinois ordered a McDonald’s franchise …

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Unions warn small business rescue changes will weaken paycheck protection

Mnuchin touted the program during a congressional hearing as having kept “tens of millions of employees connected to their jobs.”  Labor groups are warning that newly enacted changes to a popular small business lending program will make the $670 billion relief effort less about protecting workers’ paychecks than protecting businesses. The bipartisan bill signed into …

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Black workers are twice as likely to have seen coronavirus-related retaliation by bosses

Workers—but especially Black workers—say they are afraid that going to work during the coronavirus pandemic risks their own health or that of a family member, but many fear retaliation if they speak up. A new survey by the National Employment Law Project (NELP) finds that, overall, 56% of people going to work fear the risks, but …

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Field Museum Workers Say It’s Time for the CEO to Start Making Sacrifices, Too

Facing devasting pay cuts and layoffs amid the Covid-19 crisis, workers at Chicago’s Field Museum are organizing to demand greater transparency and equitable sacrifice from upper management. “We fear these cuts will disproportionately impact staff of color and those already paid the least,” Field Museum workers explain in a petition that has now garnered over 1,700 signatures. …

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Unemployment claims climbed by 1.5 million last week, despite jobs gains in May

The numbers suggest that some Americans are still being pushed out of work nearly three months into the pandemic. Workers filed another 1.5 million claims for jobless benefits last week, the Labor Department reported, suggesting that some Americans are still being pushed out of work nearly three months into the pandemic. Additionally, nearly 706,000 people …

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Another awful week of Americans seeking state and federal job benefits: 2.25 million file new claims

We’ve had plenty more news this week indicating just how bad things are economically now and how long they are likely to remain bad. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, who has warned that gross domestic product could drop 30% this quarter, on Wednesday reinforced what other analysts have said about the crunch affecting American workers: ”It’s just going to be very …

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Even after improved jobs report, Latinos remain heavily impacted amid pandemic

While the national unemployment rate has ticked down in the most recent jobs report, the news hasn’t been so fortunate for all workers. “Latinos, who have been the hardest hit by the nation’s coronavirus-related economic crisis, once again led all groups in joblessness this month, with 17.6 percent of Latinos unemployed,” NBC News reported. But times remain tough even for …

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How to Keep America’s Public Workers Safe as We Emerge From the COVID-19 Lockdown

When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, Steve Scarpa began fishing antibacterial wipes, socks and even T-shirts out of the sewers in Groton, Connecticut. Scarpa, president of United Steelworkers (USW) Local 9411 and a member of the city’s wastewater treatment crew, said residents went into “mad hysteria cleaning mode” and simply flushed potentially contaminated objects down the …

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Immigrant women workers on the front lines of meatpacking COVID-19 outbreaks speak out

Coverage of COVID-19 outbreaks in North Carolina poultry processing plants began with an online tip, but soon multiple workers came forward—risking their livelihoods—to talk about the unsafe working conditions they faced inside the plants. All of them were women. One of those women is Luz. The 38-year-old immigrant from Mexico has spent the last four years working …

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Thousands of health workers lose jobs in COVID crisis, while major hospital chains get richer

Congress provided $100 billion in emergency funding to hospitals to respond to the coronavirus crisis in the CARES Act passed back in March. That was supposed to provide about $108,000 per hospital bed across the country, to help hospitals meet the resource gap they were experiencing and to ramp up infrastructure to meet the coming demand. The …

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Madeline Messa

Madeline Messa is a 3L at Syracuse University College of Law. She graduated from Penn State with a degree in journalism. With her legal research and writing for Workplace Fairness, she strives to equip people with the information they need to be their own best advocate.