John --
Workers delivering food and packages, shopping for others at the grocery, or driving fellow essential workers to their jobs have been on the frontlines of the pandemic. But app-based gig workers still haven’t been able to take a paid sick day.
I was glad to be joined today by more than a dozen city council candidates and colleagues in calling on City Council leadership to bring my legislation to expand paid sick leave to gig workers up for a vote ASAP. Join us in calling for a vote on sick leave for gig workers.
It's no secret that progressive change doesn’t come easy -- business lobbyists and their friends in elected office put up a big fight against NYC’s original sick leave law in 2013. (That 2013 bill covers employees, but doesn't cover gig workers.)
Back then, Mayor Bloomberg vetoed the bill and we had to organize a majority of council members to force the City Council Speaker Christine Quinn to pass it over his opposition.
But we pushed ahead because we knew that paid sick leave is a critical public health issue, one that not only helps workers care for themselves when they need to, but also prevents the spread of viruses.
We’re not giving up this time either. Join me in calling on City Council Speaker Corey Johnson to bring gig worker sick leave up for a vote now.
It’s been 11 months since I introduced legislation to enable gig workers to take a paid day off when they are sick.
11 months in which a pandemic has ravaged our city, taking the lives of tens of thousands of New Yorkers, hitting communities of color, and especially low-paid, frontline workers particularly hard.
It’s time to get it done.
Brad
