Albany, NY-Today, the New York State Senate passed the NY HERO Act, which ensures the protection of millions of front-line workers, regardless of immigration status, by providing protocols on testing, face masks, PPE, social distancing, hand hygiene, disinfection, and engineering controls during this pandemic and into the future. The legislation would also allow workers to protect themselves, their workspaces, and their customers via cooperative committees with employers. Citing reports of new and dangerous variants of COVID-19 spreading in New York, immigrant and labor rights advocates called on the New York State Assembly to immediately pass the bill and move it to Governor Andrew Cuomo’s desk.
Murad Awawdeh and Rovika Rajkishun, interim Co-Executive Directors of the New York Immigration Coalition:
"COVID-19 had an enormous impact on our front-line immigrant essential workers across the state, many of them farmworkers keeping our food supply lines open at great risk to themselves and their families. We know that every day counts in keeping people safe and healthy. That is why the NY HERO Act is so important to not only the recovery of our state from the current pandemic but protection from future airborne infectious diseases. The Senate has taken a decisive step to ensure worker safety, and we call on the Assembly and Governor Cuomo to finish the job.”
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