FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WASHINGTON – Dawn Huckelbridge, Director of the Paid Leave for All campaign, issued the following statement today applauding Senator Elizabeth Warren’s (D-Mass.) and Representative Ro Khanna’s (D-Calif.) Essential Workers Bill of Rights proposal.
“Senator Warren and Representative Khanna’s Essential Workers Bill of Rights will provide workers with the paid leave benefits they have earned and deserve. The EMTs answering calls at every hour of the day. The people delivering our meals. The transit workers keeping our buses and trains running. These are the hardworking people who are, quite literally, saving lives by allowing many of us to stay home and practice social distancing. Without them we would all be worse off, but they belong to categories of workers who for too long have been ignored, underpaid, and under-appreciated. Each and every one of them deserves the universal paid sick and family-medical leave protections this proposal calls for – not just during a pandemic, but for whatever may come in the future.
“Paid leave is a tool of protection and public health. With less than one in five Americans having access to paid leave through their jobs, it is on the federal government to step in and provide a robust policy that recognizes the needs of the workforce in our country. This pandemic has proven which jobs are truly essential, and it is past time that our public policies reflect that reality.”
The Paid Leave for All campaign is a growing collaborative of organizations fighting for paid family and medical leave for all working people. For more information on the Paid Leave for All campaign, visit https://paidleaveforall.org/.
CONTACT: Marissa Padilla
505-239-9394 | mpadilla@globalstrategygroup.com