Photo by iStockphoto.com/PhynartStudio
Today is May Day, or International Workers Day, when we celebrate the labor movement and workers’ invaluable contributions to our society. This year, May Day has special resonance. Workers who are too often underappreciated, like nurses and teachers, are now regularly hailed as heroes. Yet it’s clearer than ever that our government, and some employers, are failing to make sure workers are safe, healthy, and paid fairly for their work.
The Sierra Club is committed to working in solidarity with unions, worker centers, and other labor groups. In light of this pandemic, we’re ramping up our efforts to achieve economic justice and environmental justice. Because we know we need a world where everyone can flourish -- one that includes not only clean air and water and a stable climate, but also good jobs that keep workers safe.
Learn more about our campaigns and how you can help build that better world.
We’re demanding Congress bail out workers and communities, not corporations
Congress has now passed four COVID-19 relief packages. As each of the bills were drafted, the Sierra Club joined hundreds of allies to press for more support for workers. We called for the bills to include expanded sick leave, requirements that companies that receive federal relief funds adhere to high-road labor standards, and more funding for vital sectors that have been hit badly by this pandemic -- like public transportation and clean energy.
We haven’t gotten everything we asked for, at least not yet. But our coalition did help secure emergency paid leave for many workers, save hundreds of thousands of airline industry jobs, and get billions in federal funding for our health care and public transit systems -- reducing the likelihood of layoffs or pay cuts for workers in those essential sectors.
We’re continuing to press Congress to put the millions of newly unemployed people back to work restoring forests and wetlands, replacing lead pipes, building out a clean energy system, and doing other socially and ecologically vital jobs.
Get involved: Tell Congress to prioritize workers in future COVID-19 relief efforts.
We raised money for at-risk workers through the National Domestic Workers Alliance and the Farmworker Association of Florida. Both organizations serve primarily low-wage immigrant workers, many of whom have been excluded from federal aid and lack health insurance. Because they’re exposed to toxic pesticides, farmworkers are more likely to have preexisting conditions that put them at higher risk of getting seriously sick -- or dying -- from COVID-19. Domestic workers, especially those who care for elderly or immunocompromised clients, risk contracting the virus every time they go to work.
Get involved: If you’d like to contribute to the Farmworker Association of Florida and other local grassroots organizations supporting those hardest hit by this pandemic, you can donate here. If you’d like to contribute to the National Domestic Workers Alliance and other national organizations, you can do so here.
We’re calling for the Trump administration to invest in rural health-care systems -- not the Wall
The Trump administration has spent a staggering $18 billion constructing a useless, racist border wall. Much of it will pass through rural areas where health-care workers are struggling to cope with this pandemic. The Sierra Club is part of a coalition demanding that the Trump administration stop throwing money away on this ecologically and culturally destructive wall, and start investing in the workers who keep border communities well.
Get involved: Sign this petition calling for border wall construction to end now.
We’re demanding OSHA do its job
The Sierra Club is calling for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to issue emergency occupational safety standards for all frontline workers. Right now, many employers are ignoring the voluntary guidance from the Centers for Disease Control. That puts essential workers -- and everyone they come into contact with -- at risk.
Get involved: Tell your congressional representative to sign on to the COVID-19 Every Worker Protection Act of 2020, which would require OSHA to create standards that protect all workers risking their health and safety to keep us fed, healthy, and supplied with necessities during this pandemic.
We’re supporting the workers who power the transportation systems of the future
The transportation sector is this country’s most significant source of greenhouse gases. To end the climate crisis and address existing inequities in our transportation system, we need fast, clean, and robust public transit systems that run on clean energy. That can’t happen without the people who keep our transit systems running.
Public transit systems have been hit hard by COVID-19. In New York City, MTA workers have died at three times the rate of the city’s police and fire departments combined. As of last week, 83 have died from the virus. Transit authorities face declining revenues and increased costs associated with keeping workers and riders safe during the pandemic.
We joined hundreds of unions, economic justice groups, and transit advocates to lobby Congress for billions in additional funding for transit systems, though more is needed. We also supported the New York City transit worker union, Transportation Workers United Local 100, in their work to get the MTA to designate members’ deaths from COVID-19 “deaths in the line of duty.” That means that the families of those who died will now receive $500,000 -- instead of $50,000 -- to support themselves in the wake of their loss.
Our chapters are building powerful local partnerships
Our Illinois chapter took part in nine days of action “from Earth Day to May Day” organized by a coalition of environmental, labor, and immigrant-rights groups. They helped promote a town hall where essential workers spoke about their immediate needs, like protective gear and hazard pay, and the long-term need for a recovery that centers working people and communities. And Sierra Club Illinois organizer Ann Baskerville joined Amazon warehouse workers and community organizers for a virtual town hall on the economic, health, and environmental problems created by Amazon -- from diesel pollution released by trucks going to and from the fulfillment centers to the spread of COVID-19 among Amazon workers.