UNITE HERE Local 2 Statement on COVID-19
For Immediate Release
March 5, 2020
Ted Waechter
919-636-1124
twaechter@unitehere2.org
UNITE HERE Local 2 is the hospitality workers’ union for San Francisco and San Mateo counties, representing 14,000 airport, hotel, and food service workers. We are closely monitoring developments surrounding COVID-19 and are concerned for the safety and well-being of all workers.
We will be providing UNITE HERE Local 2 members with information on COVID-19 and local contacts if they are concerned that they are ill or believe they have come in contact with the virus. UNITE HERE Local 2 is also formulating proposals for what steps should be taken if workers become sick or are impacted due to temporary layoffs. We will reach out in partnership to employers in our industries to ensure our members’ needs are addressed. This is essential for the safety and well-being of workers, the customers they serve, and the city as a whole.
As an affiliate of UNITE HERE – which has hundreds of thousands of members across the U.S. and Canada – we strongly believe that whatever monies Congress allocates towards virus response must take into account workers’ time and include paid sick leave. Not everyone can afford to take time off when they’re sick, and not every city has mandatory sick leave for working people. That’s why there is no better moment to enact national policy on paid sick time, and San Francisco should be viewed as a model. Our national leaders must act now to protect workers and the general public today and into the future.