SEIU Workers Say Much More Aggressive State Action on PPE is Even More Urgent
Sacramento, CA — With Governor Gavin Newsom indicating today that a phased re-opening of California may begin “in days, not weeks,” members of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) in California today reiterated their call for aggressive state action to mobilize production and distribution of personal protective equipment for workers on the frontlines in order to maintain California’s progress in flattening the curve on COVID-19 illness.
Cheylynda Barnard, a social worker in Adult Protective Services in Riverside County, said:
“I should be responding to calls of isolated seniors in need and visiting their homes to ensure they have food and other basics they need now. My work is considered ‘essential’ by public health authorities so I’m not bound by stay-at-home orders. But just when my clients need me the most, I’m prohibited from visiting them because our department doesn’t have enough N95 masks to keep me or these vulnerable clients safe.”
John Pearson, an ER nurse in Oakland, said:
“At Highland Hospital in Oakland where I am an emergency room nurse, my coworkers and I are putting our lives on the line everyday. Often lacking the most basic medical grade equipment and supplies, we face unacceptable and avoidable risks. We are worried not just for ourselves, but for our families and our patients.”
Bob Schoonover, President of SEIU California and SEIU Local 721, said:
“Workers on the frontlines in hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, airports, and child care and home care settings wholeheartedly agree with Governor Newsom’s assessment that as California phases in a return to workplaces and public spaces, massive quantities of personal protective equipment will be needed.
“As it stands now, our frontline workers are still struggling to access the PPE they need to keep themselves, their families, and the public they serve safe and healthy.
As we reopen the need will only grow greater with many hundreds of thousands more workers needing protective equipment.
“We are deeply concerned that without a strategy to dramatically increase supply, implement a transparent system for distribution, and a hotline for frontline workers to report shortages, our efforts to flatten the curve — and save lives — could be compromised.”
Workers across California have reported continued shortages of PPE. Over 6,000 SEIU members have responded to a survey in recent weeks about PPE shortages and access problems in their workplaces, with 88% reporting problems, and 92% reporting those problems are not resolved. The data coming in now continues to point to the fact that for too many workers these problems have not been adequately addressed: in fact, in the last three days of the survey, 90% reported their shortages or access issues were not resolved.
SEIU frontline workers who serve Californians in need have asked the state to mobilize the public and private sectors to provide PPE on the scale needed to keep all essential workers and the public safe, to have a transparent system for distributing it to the frontlines, and a way for frontline workers to report shortages for expedited response. SEIU has also called for the state to put a priority on testing for essential workers who face high risk of exposure, so workers can stay home when needed to slow the spread of the virus.
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