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labor New York Times features Worker Rights

The New York Times has put together three useful articles with graphics over the past week, highlighting worker rights and worker safety. Two pieces focus on COVID-19 and worker safety. The third is about the dangers of construction work.

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Julia Rothman

(1) "The Workers Who Face the Greatest Coronavirus Risk," by Lazaro Gamio
New York Times, March 15, 2020

"As the coronavirus continues to spread throughout the United States, people with jobs that put them in physical contact with many others are at the greatest risk of becoming sick.

Each bubble on this chart represents an occupation. The bigger the bubble, the more people do that job."

(2) "The Companies Putting Profits Ahead of Public Health," New York Times Editorial Board
New York Times, March 14, 2020

"As the coronavirus spreads, the public interest requires employers to abandon their longstanding resistance to paid sick leave.

"Most American restaurants do not offer paid sick leave. Workers who fall sick face a simple choice: Work and get paid or stay home and get stiffed. Not surprisingly, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in 2014 that fully 20 percent of food service workers had come to work at least once in the previous year 'while sick with vomiting or diarrhea.'"

(3)  "Going to Work With Danger, and Maybe Death, Every Day," By Julia Rothman and Shaina Feinberg
New York Times, March 12, 2020

"In 2018, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, approximately 1 in 5 worker deaths was in construction. We wanted to learn more about the industry's dangers and everyone we spoke to said the same thing: Be safe, keep your eyes open - and join a union."

 

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