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The first time Yuris Reyes asked for paid sick leave, she was turned down. \u201cMy bosses told me that paid sick leave was only for the managers and not something I was entitled to,\u201d says the Philadelphia restaurant worker.<\/p>\n
That didn\u2019t sound right to Yuris, who is a member of El Comit\u00e9 de Trabajadorxs de Restaurante (the Restaurant Workers Committee), a local advocacy group. She filed an anonymous complaint about her employer with the city of Philadelphia, which has had a paid sick leave law on the books since 2015.<\/p>\n
The next time she was ill and needed a leave, Yuris showed her employers a link to the relevant city law. \u201cI had fever-like symptoms and I called out sick. When I came back, I was paid for all my sick time, without an issue in my next check. Sometimes, I think that they think that because I’m Hispanic, and came to this country to work, that I don’t know my rights or won’t fight for them.\u201d<\/p>\n
El Comit\u00e9 committee is sponsored by the Coalition for Restaurant Health and Safety (CRSH) and 215 People\u2019s Alliance. CRSH has been supported by PhilaPOSH, a labor and community-based organization with a long track record of advocating for safer workplaces. PhilaPOSH is an affiliate of my organization, the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH).<\/p>\n
In early December, members of El Comit\u00e9 will join several hundred workers and labor activists at the National Conference on Worker Safety and Health<\/a> (COSHCON22). It\u2019s a place where workers like Yuris can gather more information and resources about building power in the workplace to confront and reduce the risk of occupational hazards.<\/p>\n One issue we\u2019ll definitely cover is the ongoing risk of Covid-19. Although President Biden declared the coronavirus pandemic to be \u201cover\u201d<\/a> in September, the reality is far different for frontline workers, in restaurants and other industries, who are exposed to the risk of infection on a daily basis.<\/p>\n While there is no effective tracking of workplace exposures, illnesses, and fatalities from the virus,\u00a0insurance company claims<\/a>\u00a0indicate that deaths among the working-age population, between 18 and 64 years of age, have increased by as much as 40 percent from pre-pandemic levels.\u00a0Age-adjusted data<\/a>\u00a0shows that Latinx, Black, Pacific Islander and Indigenous populations suffer far higher death rates than whites. These same populations are frequently over-represented in high-risk frontline industries such as slaughterhouses, nursing homes, and corrections facilities, and often experience disparities in access to health care. READ MORE\u2026<\/a><\/p>\n