Workers, Community Groups, Advocacy Organizations, and Labor Unions Hail Gov. Murphy’s Workplace Protection Executive Order as “Key First Step” to Ensure Worker Safety During the Pandemic
October 28, 2020 – Trenton, NJ: After a six month campaign to urge Governor Murphy to use his emergency powers to take executive action to protect NJ workers during the pandemic, the Protect NJ Workers Coalition celebrates Governor Murphy’s signing of a Worker Protection Executive Order. The Coalition is led by BIPOC activists and essential workers, with members from a wide-range of community groups, advocacy and labor organizations. Read the full press release here.
No ventilation, poor air quality pushed many districts to go remote
“Your average school building that you’re going to walk into today is not a commercial facility where you go to do your grocery shopping, or retail shopping, or even a lot of the office spaces that folks are used to going into every day. And even if you want to, it’s really difficult and expensive to retrofit these buildings with the controls needed,” he said. Barkkume discovered guidance for clean air even from the CDC has fallen short. “From the beginning and up until today, the CDC does not recognize full aerosol transmission of the virus and this trickles down [...]
Representative Norcross Discusses School Reopening With NJ Education Leaders
Heather Sorge, Campaign Organizer, Healthy Schools Now, WEC had an open conversation with Congressman Norcross to discuss school reopening and staff and student health and safety alongside Marie Blistan, President, NJEA, and Tina Dare, teacher and GR Representative, NJEA. School buildings must be safe for in-person instruction to resume. Watch the video here.
Who needs unions, anyway? We all do. | Opinion
Child labor laws have been passed, a minimum wage has been set, overtime laws are in place, and there is a federal agency dedicated to occupational safety and health, OSHA. “So, what do we need unions for?” This is a common refrain uttered by opponents of unions as well as many workers who have never belonged to a union. Welcome to the pandemic terrordome. Read the entire op-ed here.
Back to School, or Something Like It: Local District Plans in a Pandemic
‘If you want to do it, do it right’ Last month, in conjunction with the Coalition for Healthier Schools, the New Jersey Work Environment Council (WEC) issued “The Pandemic vs. Schools,” a national call to action emphasizing the importance to districts of having a solid plan before reopening. WEC is a Trenton-based labor coalition that typically concerns itself with workplace health and safety issues. “Schools can either slow the spread of the virus or speed it up,” the report reads. “Right now, schools across the country are struggling to come up with these plans on their own,” a task, it argues, for which many [...]
Schools shouldn’t open unless they have effective plans to prevent infection | Opinion
There have been nearly 5 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the United States, and this virus has no intention of going away anytime soon. As New Jersey plans to reopen schools, health and safety must be at the forefront. We cannot reopen schools without strong health and safety measures in place to protect our students and school staff. Given the lack of strong federal guidance, The New Jersey Work Environment Council, Healthy Schools Now coalition and the national Healthy Schools Network released A Call to Action. It calls on states to produce authoritative school infection, prevention, and control plans which local schools can adopt. [...]