WEC Staff

This week we covered the effect of COVID-19 on long-term care facilities, which have been ground zero for viral outbreaks. As the pandemic has ravaged senior communities across the country and frontline healthcare workers have faced PPE shortages, the federal government has offered weak and inconsistent aid to beleaguered nursing homes. To discuss the ongoing impact of the pandemic on long-term care, we were joined by Matte Kane, Union Representative, UFCW 152, Kendra Bass, LPN, United Steelworkers Local 406 Recording Secretary, and Phillis Shivers, District 1199J, National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees, AFSCME, AFL-CIO. Our guests spoke to the unique workplace risks that long term care facility workers face, as well as to the challenges of organizing and ensuring that workers’ voices are heard in a world where face-to-face connection is limited. The conversation ended with a productive exploration of ways we can overcome collective barriers to organizing in the COVID era. Resource: Center for Disease Control: How COVID-19 Spreads  

In our first webinar of the new year, we welcomed Betsy Marshall, PhD, Epidemiologist, Rutgers School of Public Health, Paschal Nwako, PhD, MPH, County Health Officer & Public Health Coordinator, Camden County NJ, and Lindsay Berg and Alisa Fatima, Contact Tracer Supervisors, Mercer County NJ. All four of our guests discussed the importance of identifying, monitoring, and supporting individuals who may have been exposed to a person with COVID-19, and of the specific regional challenges faced by the public health community in Camden and Mercer county, respectively. More than 110 people attended this webinar. Here is the link to the New Jersey Community Contact Tracing Corps. https://www.publicconsultinggroup.com/new-jersey-state-contact-tracing-initiative/

This week we rounded out the year with a panel of guests who helped us understand how COVID-19 has affected their members in 2020, new challenges we face as we head into the second wave, and the steps workers, unions, and advocates need to take in 2021 to ensure a safe, healthy year for everyone. We were joined by: Debbie White, President, Health Professionals and Allied Employees, AFT, who spoke to the lack of employer reporting on COVID-19 cases and the dangers HPAE’s members face as a result, and on bills that HPAE has campaigned on to change that. Nancy Miller, Membership Assistance Program Coordinator, UFCW Local 1262, who spoke to the need for consistent campaigning and organizing to win hazard pay and health and safety concessions as COVID-19 has waxed and waned in cases over the past year. Michael Rollins, Field Representative - Organizational Development, NJEA, who spoke to NJEA’s emphasis on communication with members and the importance of critical partnerships this year in maintaining health and safety on the ground, and who also highlighted the dedicated work of our schools’ Education Service Professionals (ESPs). And Barry Kushnir, President, IFPTE Local 194, and Hudson County Central Labor Council, who spoke to the organizing efforts [...]

Today we heard from the Governor’s Office and state agencies on NJ’s near and long-term plans to slow the spread of COVID-19, including the rollout of a newly available vaccine and the implementation of worker protection Executive Order 192. Deborah Cornavaca, Deputy Chief of Staff at Governor Murphy's Office, outlined the state’s vaccination plan for the coming months, including a tier system to prioritize frontline workers and immunization record-keeping to track both stages of vaccination. She emphasized the importance of community outreach about the vaccine and working with community leaders. Jill Gutierrez, Director of Strategic Planning and Outreach for the New Jersey Department of Labor & Workforce Development and Justin Baker, who serves as Chief of Occupational Health at the NJ Department of Labor summarized the protections and benefits under Executive Order 192, effective November 5th, to expand COVID protections for workers. Key components require employers to provide face masks free of charge to employees, conduct daily health checks, promptly notify employees of any known exposure at the workplace, and routine cleaning and disinfecting. The EO also includes two important provisions: enforcement and training. A COVID complaint form can be found here. Justin spoke about the process to file a complaint, highlighting that all complaints are [...]

This week we were joined by Les Leopold, co-founder and Executive Director of the Labor Institute. Les, who is the author of several books on the financialization of the US Economy, including Runaway Inequality: An Activist’s Guide to Economic Justice, spoke to the role the ultra-rich, hedge funds and other financial institutions have played in exacerbating COVID-19’s impact, specifically on communities of color and poor communities. He covered the economic mechanisms these institutions use to extract wealth from our medical infrastructure, resulting in the severe lack of preparedness for public health disasters we are currently experiencing, and extreme inequalities in access to safe jobs, preventative care, and adequate treatment. Les emphasized organizing across silos, talking to people in our workplaces who we don’t agree with about our shared interest in fixing these inequities, and building a mass, popular movement for economic justice. If you are interested in workshops based on Les’ materials, campaigning around economic policies, like public banking, that can reduce runaway inequality, or in organizing campaigns that break down issue silos in your community, please reach out to WEC’s Public Need Program organizer Brandon Castro @ bcastro@njwec.org. Please join us next Tuesday, December 15 @ 10am for Saving lives, [...]

This week,, we were joined by representatives from the Communication Workers of America, including Fran Ehret, CWA NJ National Staff Representative, Bill Bradley, CWA NJ Senior Campaign Lead, Jim McAsey, CWA NJ National Staff Representative, Keith Felder, Executive Vice President of CWA Local 1087, Trina Scordo, Executive Director of New Jersey Communities United, and Jon Worley, President of CWA Local 1084. The first two speakers discussed some of the educational and skills-building trainings the national health and safety committee has facilitated with over 350 rank-and-file H&S committee members from over 20 Locals in the public and private sectors in NJ. We also heard from local leaders about several successful collective efforts to win strong COVID health and safety measures in their workplaces. The message was clear: through education, organizing, and taking action, workers can improve the conditions in their workplaces. Resources from today’s webinar can be found below. More than 106 people attended this webinar. CWA NJ Presentation  CWA New Jersey Health & Safety Toolkit

This week's webinar focused on Executive Order (EO) 192 which Governor Murphy signed on October 28 and went into effect on November 5. The EO, one of the strongest in the country, mandates a series of COVID-19 protections for workers in both public and private sector employment settings. There were more than 97 people who attended this webinar. This week we were  joined by: Lou Kimmel, Executive Director of New Labor who spoke to the success of  EO 192 after a six-month campaign by the Protect NJ Workers Coalition. The EO expands worker protections by requiring employers to establish social distancing protocols, provide masks and hand sanitizer at no cost to employees, develop a notification system for any known COVID workplace exposure, routinely clean and disinfect all high-touch areas in accordance with CDC and DOH guidelines, conduct health checks, and send home sick employees in compliance with applicable leave laws. A worker who still finds themselves in a situation where their employer is not following the EO and whose health and safety is at risk can file an EO Violation with the Department of Labor (DOL). The DOL and the Department of Health (DOH) will review the complaint, and if necessary, the business can be [...]