Dear John,

As a sanitation worker of 20 years, I know the importance of health and safety on the job. For many frontline workers like myself, it is a matter of life and death. Despite doing my best to stay safe, I caught Covid-19 when the first wave hit New York City. My symptoms lasted for almost two and a half months. I couldn’t see my family for four weeks. I know I am not alone, and others have suffered a worst fate. In my union, Teamsters Local 813, we lost three members to the virus. The second wave is hitting New York right now, and state legislators should do everything they can to prevent any more unnecessary sickness and deaths from this virus.

That is why TODAY, Thursday, December 17th at 7 PM, I am joining nurses, farmworkers, delivery drivers, laundromat workers and more with our Essential Workers coalition to fight for the NY HERO Act. This will ensure that workers and communities are better protected from this second wave of Covid-19, and whatever comes next.

Douglas Washington Speaking at a rally in Diversity Plaza, Queens

Many workers, especially non-union workers, are being sent out to do work without the proper safety equipment as basic as masks and sanitizer. The NY HERO Act will ensure that all workers will have the protections that will keep us safe: PPE, sanitizer, social distancing protocols. Workers know what workers need. This legislation will give workers a bigger voice on the job without fear of retaliation. It is unacceptable that nine months into the deadliest pandemic in modern history, many New Yorkers remain unprotected or fear being fired if they raise health and safety concerns.

It has been a difficult year for many of us, especially for Black and Brown workers in the frontlines and their communities. We can honor their work, their livelihood, their families and communities, by ensuring health, safety, and dignity on the job. I invite you to join us to honor the sacrifices workers have made, the powerful organizing done throughout the pandemic, as well as call for NY state legislators to pass the NY HERO Act.

In Solidarity,

Douglas Washington

Sanitation Worker and Teamster Member