May Day has a dual history. As an ancient celebration of spring, with outdoor festivals and dancing. And as International Workers Day, honoring the organizing of workers who fought for and won campaigns for an 8-hour work day, the minimum wage, the right to form a union.

Dear John,

May Day has a dual history. As an ancient celebration of spring, with outdoor festivals and dancing. And as International Workers Day, honoring the organizing of workers who fought for and won campaigns for an 8-hour work day, the minimum wage, the right to form a union. At its best, the two ideas can combine in a “bread and roses” spirit. We all need enough sustenance for families to pay for food, housing, clothes, the basics. And we all need the joy associated with spring, recreation, parks, culture, camaraderie.

This May Day, of course, we don’t have enough of either bread or roses. Millions of workers have lost their jobs and can't pay the rent that’s due today. So many of the essential workers who are working -- caring for the sick, delivering food and supplies, stocking grocery shelves, manufacturing masks, collecting trash, cleaning our streets and subway cars and much more --  are braving workplaces with high exposure and substandard protection from the virus, many without any child care, some even without sick leave. And none of us will be able to celebrate spring with the little baseball games or outdoor concerts that we live for.    

But May Day is grounded in the organizing of people to make change. And this year, we are seeing a lot of that. Workers at Amazon, Instacart, Target, Walmart and elsewhere are striking to demand more protective equipment, paid leave, and hazard pay. Immigrant New Yorkers led by Make the Road NY led a car-caravan to Governor Cuomo’s office demanding an excluded worker fund for those cruelly excluded from federal relief efforts. Tenants are organizing through Housing Justice For All to demand #CancelRent legislation to make sure those who can’t pay don’t wind up homeless.  

So today, on this International Workers Day, help us raise the volume on the campaign for rights and protections for essential workers. The City Council is holding a hearing next Tuesday on our Essential Workers Bill of Rights package, which includes expanding paid sick leave to gig workers like Uber and Lyft drivers, Doordash and Seamless delivery workers, Handy cleaners, and more, adding pay premiums for hourly workers at large companies, and providing just cause protections against unfair firings, including for those who speak out about health and safety issues. We have already heard a lot from corporate lobbyists, and we really need to hear from New Yorkers. Share your support for the Essential Workers Bill of Rights: 

 

Freelancers and gig-workers have been especially hard hit. Even before this crisis, as independent contractors, they lacked the employee rights and protections like healthcare, minimum wage, paid time off, and unemployment insurance that generations of workers fought and won for employees. And since many are in sectors like arts and culture, work has disappeared fast. 

Earlier this month, we surveyed 200 freelancers about how they have been impacted by the COVID-19 crisis. 88% have lost over 50% of their income since this crisis started. More than 84% have or plan to apply for unemployment insurance. And 62% told us they were worried about making rent. 

The “contingent work economy” is not working for its workers. We are going to need to make some serious changes. 

Some of those changes can happen right now (the Essential Workers Bill of Rights package includes expanding sick leave to app-based workers, as well as a push for the state to take up the misclassification of these workers) and others will take longer (like portable benefits that follow the worker rather than the job for true independent contractors). If you’re a freelancer or independent contractor trying to navigate the unemployment system, we are organizing another webinar next week to help answer questions. Sign up here

Of course, none of us are going to have enough “roses” this May Day either, at least not shared in the ways we long for. We can’t be outside at baseball games, having picnics, or celebrating together. 

I am grateful that Mayor de Blasio has finally agreed to start an “open streets” program, so people will have a little more room to exercise or take a walk, while still observing physical distancing (including a couple streets in our district, more info below). If we can really make this program work, it holds real potential. In some cities, from Wuhan to Atlanta, they’re letting restaurants take over street space for safe outdoor dining. 

To make anything like this work, we’ll need not only a comprehensive test/trace/quarantine program, but also strong collective compliance with physical distancing rules. So let’s do our part in helping make that happen. We’ve seen a lot of non-compliance in recent days, in many different communities. 

This a very different May Day than how we’ve observed it in years past with a big rally in Foley Square, or a dance around the maypole. But it’s one that honors the spirit of organizing for “bread & roses,” which we need this year maybe more than ever.  

Brad

In this email: 
City and State Updates
Upcoming Calls
Three Ways to Take Action for Workers

City and State Updates

Upcoming calls 

Thursday, May 7 at 7 PM: Briefing on COVID-19 Relief Resources for Freelancers. Register here.  

Join us for an overview of COVID-19 relief resources available to freelancers, including updated information about applying for unemployment/PUA, rent, and more. Hosted by Councilmember Brad Lander and Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, speakers will include attorney Nicole Salk of Legal Services, and Rob Piechota from the Small Business Administration, and an organizer from the Housing Justice for All Coalition.

Three Ways to Take Action for Workers

  1. Support the call for the state to create an Excluded Workers Fund for immigrant workers and small business owners cut out of the federal relief packages.

  2. Donate to One FairWage’s emergency fund for tipped and service workers.

  3. Share a message of support for the Essential Workers Bill of Rights with the hashtag #StandWithEssentialWorkers. 

Lander for NYC
456 Fifth Avenue, 3rd Floor, Suite 2
Brooklyn, NY 11215
[email protected]

    

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