Do Responsible Businesses Care Enough to Take a Stance on the Garment Worker Protection Act? msn.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from msn.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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Millions of front-line workers in California are falling through the cracks of an undersupplied COVID-19 vaccine distribution system, putting entire communities at prolonged risk of illness and raising the question among workers: Who counts as “essential,” and who gets to decide?
The state’s front-line workforce includes 5.7 million people at heightened risk during the pandemic, according to the California Legislative Analyst’s Office. They package food, prune fields, clean offices and assemble cloth face masks, among other jobs.
Some have higher-paid roles in public health and public corrections. All are at risk of contracting the virus because they regularly interact with other people customers and colleagues as they keep services running and pantries stocked.
The virus is moving in : why California is losing the fight against Covid
People wait in line at a Covid-19 testing center in Los Angeles on 8 December 2020. Photograph: Frederic J Brown/AFP/Getty Images
People wait in line at a Covid-19 testing center in Los Angeles on 8 December 2020. Photograph: Frederic J Brown/AFP/Getty Images
Despite aggressive early lockdown measures, cases and deaths are now surging. How did things get so bad?
Sat 12 Dec 2020 01.00 EST
Last modified on Sat 12 Dec 2020 01.09 EST
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Early in the coronavirus pandemic, California was celebrated as a beacon of common sense in a country on the brink.
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This spring, Marissa Nuncio, director of the Garment Worker Center in Los Angeles, had a Zoom meeting with some of the center’s 300 members. Even during the pandemic, when they were considered essential workers as they made thousands of face masks, the members reported a lack of personal protective equipment, no social distancing, and little disinfection of facilities or even time to wash their hands during long factory shifts. Nuncio searched Etsy for face masks to show workers what the going rate was. “Our members show a lot of resilience through their humor,” Nuncio said. “And they just cracked up laughing $20! $15! They were like, ‘We’re getting paid two cents a mask in our factories.’”
The virus is moving in : why California is losing the fight against Covid msn.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from msn.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.