One of the city’s major employee labor unions, Service Employees International Union Local 721, issued a statement saying it will work to “mitigate and reduce the number of furlough days and to address the equity of those members impacted.”
Coral Itzcalli, portavoz del Sindicato Internacional de Trabajadores de los Servicios (SEIU) local 721, el cual representa a un grueso número de empleados de la Ciudad, dijo que el recorte de horas de trabajo y salario es muy preocupante.
“Los conductores de reparto de comida de restaurantes y de supermercados son esenciales”, dijo Coral Itzcalli, vocera de la Alianza de Trabajadores Móviles (MWA).
Mobile Workers Alliance spokesman Mike Long, who is also affiliated with Service Employees International Union, Local 721, said drivers fear for their safety.
These drivers, who are organized through a group called Mobile Workers Alliance, held a telephone press conference on Thursday demanding Los Angeles’ mayor and city attorney hold Uber and Lyft accountable in giving them these supplies.
In a Mobile Workers Alliance virtual town hall on March 31, Uber driver Ruben said that even with a doctor’s note he was denied any benefits. Uber’s last communication to Ruben: “We are sorry that this upsets you, but our decision is final.”
“Gov. Newsom’s statewide eviction moratorium is the kind of bold and decisive action California needs at this time — protecting families already rocked by COVID-19 job losses from becoming even more vulnerable to homelessness.”
This week, local nurses union SEIU 721 filed a complaint with the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health because of the reuse of face masks and lack of N95 respirators. Union leaders demanded that hospitals not assign suspected COVID-19 patients to their members until they were provided the appropriate gear.
Before the pandemic, this sort of ploy across the gig economy read as a way to prop up unsustainable companies by gouging their own workforces; during covid-19, hewing to the same approach is simply irresponsible.