Democratic lawmakers push for new worker protections
Democratic lawmakers, Farmworker Justice and the Environmental Working Group are pushing for new federal protections for farm and food workers in the next coronavirus stimulus legislation.
Earlier this month, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., introduced the Essential Workers Bill of Rights to protect frontline workers during the coronavirus pandemic. The lawmakers said they want the next coronavirus relief package to include the policies in the Essential Workers Bill of Rights.
The bill includes enhanced health and safety protections, more compensation, enhanced health care and other goals.
In a letter to Congressional leaders on April 27, Khanna and other lawmakers said the protections “must apply to all workers, no matter their industry, employer size, job type or immigration status.”
In a media conference call on April 30, Khanna said he doesn’t think that all of the “essential worker bill of rights” will make it in to the next stimulus bill.
“That’s highly ambitious, but I’m confident that at least some of these provisions will make it into the next bill,” he said. “We cannot turn our back on worker safety and worker pay (for) those who are most impacted,” Khanna said in the media call.
Khanna said the new protections should at least be granted on a temporary during the COVID-19 crisis.
Farmers are working to keep their labor safe, said Michael Marsh, president and CEO of the National Council of Agricultural Employers. “America’s farm and ranch families have stepped up to the challenge of keeping food on American tables in the midst of this horrific global pandemic,” he said, noting quick adjustments by growers to implement new safety protocols and procedures related to COVID-19.
“Similar to the scientists and researchers studying this new novel disease, farm and ranch families are adjusting worker safety procedures and guidance as new information is learned.”
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