Press and News

By: Elizabeth Shwe | Maryland Matters | April 6, 2021 An emergency bill to protect essential workers during public health emergencies is moving through the Maryland General Assembly. However, with less than a week remaining in the legislative session, it faces a tough timeline for final passage. The amended measure curtails who counts as an essential worker, does not guarantee paid sick leave and no longer includes hazard pay. The House Economic Matters committee — chaired by the bill sponsor, Del. Dereck E. Davis (D-Prince George’s) — removed the initial $3 an hour in hazard pay from the Maryland Essential Workers’ Protection Act and made paid…

By: Lisa Brown , John Nethercut, and Gustavo TorresFor: The Baltimore Sun |MAR 30, 2021 at 10:56 AM With little time remaining in the Maryland General Assembly session, it’s useful — and discouraging — to look back at the working families policy agenda that nearly 50 organizations, representing hundreds of thousands of Marylanders, proposed at the beginning of the pandemic to help essential workers and those most affected by the shutdown. At the time, we called for a special legislative session to address Marylanders’ urgent needs related to housing, worker protections, health care and much more. Nearly one year later, our elected leaders have made some progress,…

By: Louis Krauss | Baltimore Brew | Wednesday, January 13, 2021 - Coalition backs measure to guarantee “hazard pay” and on the job safeguards for essential workers who face the daily risk of Covid-19 Unions, civil rights and other groups rallied outside of a North Baltimore Safeway store in support of state legislation that would prevent unsafe practices by employers during the Covid pandemic. Aimed at protecting workers who face the public on a daily basis, the bill would guarantee enhanced pay, safe working conditions, free testing, sick leave and the right to refuse to work in dangerous conditions. The measure…

By: Johanna Alonso | Daily Record business reporter, December 8, 2020 — Members of unions representing Maryland’s frontline workers gathered on Tuesday to launch Protect Maryland Workers, a coalition advocating for legislation that would protect grocery, health care, transit and other essential employees during pandemics and other emergencies. The proposed legislation, called the Maryland Essential Workers Protections Act, would require employers to provide increased support and safety protocols to essential workers during an emergency — the definition of which is outlined in the bill. These protections include providing personal protective equipment at no cost to the employee, paying essential employees hourly hazard pay on…

By PAMELA WOOD | BALTIMORE SUN |DEC 08, 2020 AT 7:28 PM — Maryland labor unions are making a push for essential workers to get greater protections and hazard pay not only during the coronavirus pandemic, but also in future health emergencies. They’re drafting a bill called the “Essential Workers Protection Act” that would guarantee those workers enhanced pay, safe working conditions, free testing, sick and bereavement leave, and the right to refuse to work in dangerous conditions. “Essential workers are willing to show up for us and we have to show up for them,” said Ricarra Jones of the 1199 SEIU union, which…

By Hannah Gaskill - December 8, 2020 — Sophia Atu has been a nurse at Prince George’s Hospital Center for over 20 years. She knew that the job would be challenging when she started, but didn’t imagine fighting her way through an unprecedented pandemic like COVID-19.  “It’s like going to war,” she said at a news conference Tuesday morning. “When you say bye to your family you are gone. You either come back alive or you come back in a body bag.” As a healthcare worker constantly exposing herself to the virus, Atu worries about having enough personal protective equipment to shield…