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Right now, the best way you can support the Essential Workers Bill of Rights is with testimonials -- personal messages about why you support this legislation. Can you take a minute and send your personal message to the NYC Council today? [[link removed]] Dear John,Last week, NYC City Council held its first (virtual) hearing on the Essential Workers Bill of Rights package.

For seven hours, we heard testimony from workers on the frontlines of this pandemic about how extra pay and job security would mean a big difference as they take on the risks of going to work every day. But we also heard loud and clear from powerful lobbying groups like the National Restaurant Association (NRA). Since the hearing, companies have flooded the inboxes of councilmembers with messages about how giving essential workers rights and protections will put them out of business. Meanwhile, Amazon is still refusing to provide any data on how many workers have been infected with COVID-19 -- and delivery workers for Doordash, GrubHub, and Instacart are still working every day without the ability to stay home with pay when they get sick.

We’ve heard a lot of this before. Big corporations opposed the original sick leave law in 2013, warning that they’d go out of business if they had to pay for sick leave. They did the same when we worked to raise the minimum wage. But the sky has not fallen.

Now, corporations might be loud -- but we can be loud too.

Take a minute and send a quick message about why you want to see the Council pass the Essential Workers Bill of Rights. Your testimony will show NYC leaders and the opposition that most New Yorkers support fair pay, sick leave, and protections for our frontline workers → [[link removed]]

SEND A MESSAGE [[link removed]]Here are just a few of the testimonials you have sent us already:

As a retired RN who worked her way through nursing school as a nursing assistant, I know how essential these health care providers are, and how dangerous their work is. As an immunocompromised senior, I depend on grocery workers, delivery workers, and others to keep me safely provisioned. Essential workers deserve more than thanks -- they deserve benefits and workplace protections.
-Pauline B., Brooklyn

Misclassification of workers as independent contractors is one of the most-abused workers' rights issues. And it hurts employers (like me) economically who classify employees honestly.
-John H., Brooklyn

The people keeping us safe -- doctors, grocery clerks, delivery people, and all the rest -- need public policies to change to keep them safe. This pandemic has made it so clear who truly is essential in our city, and has asked them to make tremendous sacrifices many of them did not sign up for. We must treat them like the heroes they are, not just with applause, but by ensuring their human rights and safety.
-Siena C., Brooklyn

My daughter is a nurse practitioner who has been struggling with equipment, payment for work, and food. For me, it is personal, but, of course, all medical personnel deserve our accolades and their rights.
-Sonya F., Brooklyn

We were shocked when we read about the doctor in Wuhan who first reported the new Coronavirus and was punished for doing so. Yet we let our healthcare workers be threatened and fired for alerting the public about problems in our healthcare system.
-Karen F., Manhattan

If nothing else, this current situation has demonstrated who is REALLY essential to the country. It would be good to pay them appropriately and provide commensurate benefits.
-Matthew R., Brooklyn

It’s critical that as many New Yorkers as possible raise their voices in support of these bills. Corporations and their lobbyists have mounted a noisy public relations assault against the package. We need to hear your stories and share them far and wide to show them why so many New Yorkers support these rights for workers.

ADD YOUR TESTIMONY: Tell us why you support hazard pay, paid sick leave, workplace protections, and fair classification for the nurses, drivers, and other essential workers who are putting their health and safety on the line every day → [[link removed]]

Thank you so much. Stay safe and support each other,

-- Brad

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

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