Today’s Labor Quote

Today's Labor History

Nurses demand PPE at White House protest
Registered Nurses protested in front of the White House on Tuesday to call attention to the tens of thousands of health care workers nationwide who have become infected with COVID-19 due to lack of personal protective equipment (PPE). The nurses, including local members of National Nurses United (NNU), the largest union of RNs in the country, read aloud the names U.S. nurses who are known to have died of COVID-19. Nurses have been demanding that the Trump administration’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) promulgate an emergency temporary standard so that health care workers are provided with the optimal PPE. The nurses are also demanding that President Trump use his authority under the Defense Production Act (DPA) to order the mass production of PPE, including N95 respirators, face shields, gowns, gloves and shoe coverings, as well as ventilators and COVID-19 testing kits.

Petition: Protect the Postal Service
As most Americans shelter in place, postal workers are delivering people’s prescriptions, keeping small companies in business and connecting families. The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) has always been the country's emergency distribution system during times of crisis. But during this unprecedented time, that work is under threat. Postal revenues are plummeting during the shutdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic costs are increasing. "The USPS could run out of money as early as June," warns a coalition that's circulation a petition to "Tell Congress: Support our public Postal Service!" "The loss of the USPS would shatter our response to the pandemic," warns the coalition. "The Postal Service needs our congressional leaders—Democrats and Republicans alike—to provide urgent and ongoing financial support from the federal government during this public health and economic crisis."

Earth Day at 50: BlueGreen Alliance
On this 50th anniversary of Earth Day, the BlueGreen Alliance -- which unites America’s largest labor unions and its most influential environmental organizations -- argues that "the actions we take to create quality jobs and to protect working people and the environment must go hand-in-hand, and that together, we will build clean, thriving and fair economy." Americans are often asked to choose between jobs and the environment, says the Alliance, "But as we face increasingly severe impacts of environmental challenges like climate change and adapt to an interconnected global economy, we can no longer choose one or the other. The BlueGreen Alliance believes we can and must choose both." Earth Day Live, a three day livestream mobilization connecting the fights against the coronavirus and the climate crisis and striving to build a society rooted in sustainability and justice, kicks off today.