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| ‘I Don’t Know How I’m Going to Pay Rent Next Month’ | ‘I Don’t Know How I’m Going to Pay Rent Next Month’ |
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| Carlos Rodriguez Herrera, a part-time barista at a Mediterranean restaurant in New York City, was told not to come in for his morning shift on March 14. The next day, just before Mayor Bill de Blasio ordered all restaurants and bars to cease dine-in service, Mr. Rodriguez Herrera and his co-workers were sent home several hours early. As the coronavirus has continued to spread, making “social distancing” a nationwide norm, foot traffic into coffee shops and restaurants has fallen to a light patter. Food service workers around the country are losing their jobs. | Carlos Rodriguez Herrera, a part-time barista at a Mediterranean restaurant in New York City, was told not to come in for his morning shift on March 14. The next day, just before Mayor Bill de Blasio ordered all restaurants and bars to cease dine-in service, Mr. Rodriguez Herrera and his co-workers were sent home several hours early. As the coronavirus has continued to spread, making “social distancing” a nationwide norm, foot traffic into coffee shops and restaurants has fallen to a light patter. Food service workers around the country are losing their jobs. |
| Mr. Rodriguez Herrera understands his employer’s predicament, he told me. He would prefer to stay home, out of harm’s way. But as a minimum-wage worker, earning just $15 per hour plus tips without any paid sick time or health insurance, losing work was almost as scary as getting sick. “I don’t know how I’m going to pay the rent in the coming month,” he said. “I have no savings, no money right now. I guess I’m going to ask somebody if I can borrow some money.” On top of that, Mr. Rodriguez Herrera is undocumented, and so ineligible for unemployment insurance, Medicaid, food stamps, cash and housing assistance, despite two steady decades of living and laboring in the United States. | Mr. Rodriguez Herrera understands his employer’s predicament, he told me. He would prefer to stay home, out of harm’s way. But as a minimum-wage worker, earning just $15 per hour plus tips without any paid sick time or health insurance, losing work was almost as scary as getting sick. “I don’t know how I’m going to pay the rent in the coming month,” he said. “I have no savings, no money right now. I guess I’m going to ask somebody if I can borrow some money.” On top of that, Mr. Rodriguez Herrera is undocumented, and so ineligible for unemployment insurance, Medicaid, food stamps, cash and housing assistance, despite two steady decades of living and laboring in the United States. |
| Even those who qualify for benefits are encountering holes in the system. Willow Manuel, a barista and coffee-roasting technician in Philadelphia who uses the pronouns they/them, told me that they were laid off without any notice from their job at a local coffee chain on March 12. “Now I have to scramble to find any kind of work that I can,” they told me. “I’m going to have a conversation with my landlord about my situation and hope that I don’t get evicted.” | Even those who qualify for benefits are encountering holes in the system. Willow Manuel, a barista and coffee-roasting technician in Philadelphia who uses the pronouns they/them, told me that they were laid off without any notice from their job at a local coffee chain on March 12. “Now I have to scramble to find any kind of work that I can,” they told me. “I’m going to have a conversation with my landlord about my situation and hope that I don’t get evicted.” |
| When Mx. Manuel went to apply for unemployment insurance, the form asked only what hours they’d worked in their most recent week of work — they feared that the calculation of benefits would be skewed. Their hours are variable, and happened to drop off just before they were laid off. There is also a waiting period to receive benefits. | When Mx. Manuel went to apply for unemployment insurance, the form asked only what hours they’d worked in their most recent week of work — they feared that the calculation of benefits would be skewed. Their hours are variable, and happened to drop off just before they were laid off. There is also a waiting period to receive benefits. |
| Service workers in cafes, restaurants and hotels are among the first economic victims of the coronavirus epidemic. So are many of their employers. As more of these businesses shut down, millions of people will need help to survive — help that reflects the reality of low-wage and hourly work. Vulnerable workers are demanding an inclusive, accessible program of paid sick days, wage replacement and access to health care as part of any disaster response. | Service workers in cafes, restaurants and hotels are among the first economic victims of the coronavirus epidemic. So are many of their employers. As more of these businesses shut down, millions of people will need help to survive — help that reflects the reality of low-wage and hourly work. Vulnerable workers are demanding an inclusive, accessible program of paid sick days, wage replacement and access to health care as part of any disaster response. |
| Meeting these needs seems daunting: How can we weave an economic safety net while addressing a public health crisis? But examples from other nations, and our own recent history, show it can be done. | Meeting these needs seems daunting: How can we weave an economic safety net while addressing a public health crisis? But examples from other nations, and our own recent history, show it can be done. |
| So far, the federal government has done little to help working people. On Friday, President Trump made a show of waiving the interest on federal student loans, but failed to note that monthly payments won’t be reduced. On Saturday, the House of Representatives passed a coronavirus bill that expands paid sick leave but exempts so many large corporations and small businesses that only 20 percent of the American work force will be covered. There is as yet no compensation for wage earners remotely analogous to the $1.5 trillion in short-term loans promised by the Federal Reserve, despite the fact that three million people are expected to lose their jobs before June. Ordinary Americans foresee a cruel repetition of the financial crisis, when banks and automakers became the beneficiaries of “corporate socialism.” | So far, the federal government has done little to help working people. On Friday, President Trump made a show of waiving the interest on federal student loans, but failed to note that monthly payments won’t be reduced. On Saturday, the House of Representatives passed a coronavirus bill that expands paid sick leave but exempts so many large corporations and small businesses that only 20 percent of the American work force will be covered. There is as yet no compensation for wage earners remotely analogous to the $1.5 trillion in short-term loans promised by the Federal Reserve, despite the fact that three million people are expected to lose their jobs before June. Ordinary Americans foresee a cruel repetition of the financial crisis, when banks and automakers became the beneficiaries of “corporate socialism.” |
| Contrast these moves with those in France, where the president vowed to suspend all rents, electricity, gas and heating bills for small and medium-size businesses throughout the coronavirus crisis. The Irish government has promised to commit most of its stimulus package of 3.1 billion euros (around $3.4 billion) to benefit sick and unemployed workers, not corporations, and Danish lawmakers will pay up to 75 percent of some private-sector employees’ salaries to prevent layoffs. South Korea is providing largely free coronavirus testing, regardless of immigration status. | |
| The bill passed by the U.S. House provides free testing to all, though kits are in short supply. In Ohio on Sunday, Gov. Mike DeWine issued an executive order enabling certain categories of workers — those whose workplaces have been closed, who do not have paid leave, or who are under quarantine — to immediately receive unemployment benefits. And on Tuesday, the Trump administration signaled support for cash payments. | The bill passed by the U.S. House provides free testing to all, though kits are in short supply. In Ohio on Sunday, Gov. Mike DeWine issued an executive order enabling certain categories of workers — those whose workplaces have been closed, who do not have paid leave, or who are under quarantine — to immediately receive unemployment benefits. And on Tuesday, the Trump administration signaled support for cash payments. |
| There is an American precedent for even more inclusive disaster relief. Nearly two decades ago, after the September 11 attacks, the United States developed an exemplary program to provide free, specialized health care to firefighters and other emergency medical workers who reported respiratory ailments, skin and gastrointestinal problems, mental health conditions and, later, life-threatening cancers. But almost as soon as the program got going, cleaning workers employed by private contractors and residents of New York neighborhoods affected by falling debris came forward with nearly identical complaints. The majority of these workers and residents were low income, and many were undocumented. | There is an American precedent for even more inclusive disaster relief. Nearly two decades ago, after the September 11 attacks, the United States developed an exemplary program to provide free, specialized health care to firefighters and other emergency medical workers who reported respiratory ailments, skin and gastrointestinal problems, mental health conditions and, later, life-threatening cancers. But almost as soon as the program got going, cleaning workers employed by private contractors and residents of New York neighborhoods affected by falling debris came forward with nearly identical complaints. The majority of these workers and residents were low income, and many were undocumented. |
| Disaster aid often fails to account for such vulnerable populations, but in the case of the post-9/11 health program, a broad community campaign of immigrant worker centers, labor unions and public health and environmental justice groups fought successfully to secure equal health care access. The World Trade Center Environmental Health Center was expanded to provide physical and mental health care not only to emergency medical workers but also to privately employed cleanup workers and downtown residents. (I provided legal and technical assistance on this collaboration until 2012.) | Disaster aid often fails to account for such vulnerable populations, but in the case of the post-9/11 health program, a broad community campaign of immigrant worker centers, labor unions and public health and environmental justice groups fought successfully to secure equal health care access. The World Trade Center Environmental Health Center was expanded to provide physical and mental health care not only to emergency medical workers but also to privately employed cleanup workers and downtown residents. (I provided legal and technical assistance on this collaboration until 2012.) |
| We must now create a similarly equitable response to our present disaster, especially as unemployed service workers are taking jobs in the growing, hazardous sector of coronavirus disinfection, according to Nadia Marin-Molina of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. Worker organizing groups around the country are urging local, state and federal officials to devise emergency relief — including cash transfers, universal unemployment benefits, paid sick leave, an expansion of the earned-income tax credit and free access to coronavirus testing and safe quarantining. Demands for a moratorium on tenant evictions have already succeeded in Seattle, Miami-Dade County and New York City. | We must now create a similarly equitable response to our present disaster, especially as unemployed service workers are taking jobs in the growing, hazardous sector of coronavirus disinfection, according to Nadia Marin-Molina of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. Worker organizing groups around the country are urging local, state and federal officials to devise emergency relief — including cash transfers, universal unemployment benefits, paid sick leave, an expansion of the earned-income tax credit and free access to coronavirus testing and safe quarantining. Demands for a moratorium on tenant evictions have already succeeded in Seattle, Miami-Dade County and New York City. |
| Last Friday, Mr. Rodriguez Herrera, the New York barista, volunteered as a Spanish interpreter at a news conference hosted by the Coalition to Protect Chinatown and the Lower East Side. The coalition, which represents local nonprofits, advocacy groups, unions and small businesses — some of whom helped establish the post-9/11 health program — called on Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York and Mr. de Blasio to institute a coronavirus relief fund for sick and unemployed workers, regardless of immigration status; cut real estate taxes and rents for businesses; and provide accessible medical facilities and quarantines for people living in crowded housing. | Last Friday, Mr. Rodriguez Herrera, the New York barista, volunteered as a Spanish interpreter at a news conference hosted by the Coalition to Protect Chinatown and the Lower East Side. The coalition, which represents local nonprofits, advocacy groups, unions and small businesses — some of whom helped establish the post-9/11 health program — called on Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York and Mr. de Blasio to institute a coronavirus relief fund for sick and unemployed workers, regardless of immigration status; cut real estate taxes and rents for businesses; and provide accessible medical facilities and quarantines for people living in crowded housing. |
| These demands echo the new policy in Denmark as well as a proposal put forward by the economists Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman that the federal government “act as a buyer of last resort.” They suggest the government should purchase whatever isn’t being purchased, so that businesses can keep paying their workers. | These demands echo the new policy in Denmark as well as a proposal put forward by the economists Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman that the federal government “act as a buyer of last resort.” They suggest the government should purchase whatever isn’t being purchased, so that businesses can keep paying their workers. |
| “The federal government, they need to declare this a disaster,” Mr. Rodriguez Herrera told me. “It’s not only affecting me, but a lot of working people.” His immediate plan was survival: cheap chicken soup and a scramble to save for rent. But he is also organizing, so that low-wage workers can lead the struggle for a just disaster response. | “The federal government, they need to declare this a disaster,” Mr. Rodriguez Herrera told me. “It’s not only affecting me, but a lot of working people.” His immediate plan was survival: cheap chicken soup and a scramble to save for rent. But he is also organizing, so that low-wage workers can lead the struggle for a just disaster response. |
| “We need to come together to change things in the places we work, and where we live,” he said | |
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