nothin Essential Workers’ Rally Seeks Expansion Of… | New Haven Independent

Essential Workers’ Rally Seeks Expansion Of Paid Sick Leave

John Lugo, Community Organizing Director of Unidad Latina en Accion, and Megan Fountain, Coordinator of Advocacy and Partnerships.

She was pregnant. She had a 2‑year-old child. And she got Covid-19.

Because her employer didn’t have to offer her sick days, she faced a choice: Stay home and let her family go hungry. Or go to work sick and contagious.

State Sen. Julie Kushner of Danbury told that story about one of her constituents to a crowd gathered late Thursday afternoon in front of New Haven City Hall.

The occasion was a combination vigil and rally organized by Unidad Latina en Accion and other community advocates . The event, attended by dozens and in observance of Workers’ Memorial Day, sought to simultaneously honor the essential workers who died or got sick from the coronavirus while also advocating for the passage of various bills that would provide relief and expand benefits for those who are still working.

So they don’t face the choices Kushner’s constituent faced.

Essential workers risked their lives so the rest of us could live in comfort,” John Lugo, Community Organizing Director of Unidad Latina en Accion, told the crowd in Spanish as Megan Fountain translated into English. We don’t want just words. We want justice.”

Participants advocated for passage of House Bill No. 6537: An Act Concerning Paid Sick Leave Expansion and Domestic Worker Coverage, which would expand paid sick days to domestic workers, small businesses, personal care assistants, and others in the private sector.

Madison Hahamy Photo

State Rep. Robyn Porter and State Sen. Julie Kushner at Thursday’s rally.

We don’t get to call you essential workers and treat you like sacrificial lambs,” New Haven State Rep. Robyn Porter, leading the charge for the bill. We’re not just getting it done, we’re getting it done right.”

Javier Garcia, husband of Nora Garcia.

The vigil also featured a moment of silence for all of the workers who lost their lives due to the pandemic.

One speaker was Javier Garcia, the husband of Nora Garcia, an essential worker who died after catching the coronavirus on the job.

It’s time to demand our rights,” he told the crowd. If you call us essential workers, our health should be essential.”

New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker.

Mayor Justin Elicker also spoke briefly.

If our neighbors are healthy, we’re more likely to be healthy ourselves,” Elicker said. Sick days off should be our right, but it is also intelligent.”

Catherine John, lead organizer for Black and Brown United in Action.

Catherine John, lead organizer for Black and Brown United in Action, ended the event by reminding attendees that, alongside the coronavirus, racism is also a public health crisis.”

She invited the public to the Green Saturday for a May Day rally from noon to 6 p.m.

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