Governor Cuomo Issues Executive Order Addressing Critical Shortages in Fight Against COVID-19

Frontline Workers are Fighting to Save Lives While Short-Staffed and Under-Protected

Nurses at St. John’s Riverside and St. Joseph’s Speak Out: We Need More Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) To Protect Nurses and Patients From COVID-19

Nurses Hail Action

YONKERS, NY  – April 7, 2020 — Nurses at St. John’s Hospital and St. Joseph’s Hospital held an urgent community speak out and press event in front of St. Joseph’s Medical Center today. Nurses at both facilities were demanding greater access to N95s and other critical PPE to slow the spread of COVID-19.

Both facilities have very limited to almost no personal protective equipment (PPE) for healthcare workers that are taking care of COVID-19 patients. A growing number of healthcare workers at both hospitals are testing positive for COVID-19.

Healthcare workers are on the frontlines of the battle against COVID-19 and need the safest equipment to treat patients, slow the spread of the virus, and protect themselves. Nurses are calling on the Trump administration and the federal government to unleash the Defense Production Act (DPA) to increase production of PPE, so healthcare workers can safely care for ...

What Workers Really Need in this Economic Crisis is Liquidity
By OREN M. LEVIN-WALDMAN

Oren M. Levin-Waldman is faculty member in the School of Public Affairs and Administration at Rutgers University-Newark, and Socioeconomic Research Scholar at Global Institute for Sustainable Prosperity Research. Learn more at the professor’s Website: https://www.econlabor.com/. Direct email to olevinwaldman@gmail.com

NEWARK, NJ — April 6, 2020 — Any law passed by Congress, even with the noblest intentions is fraught with politics. Every member of Congress attempts to fold his or her pet project into a bill, even if it has nothing to do with it. The CARE Act, i.e. the $2.2 trillion stimulus bill is no different. We have funding for the arts and humanities and money for various corporate interests. Of course, it isn’t clear whether workers will get immediate relief, or will have to wait several weeks. Although businesses that take loans can have those loans forgiven if they agree to maintain their payrolls or rehire them, it nonetheless remains to be seen whether they will actually do so. What workers really need is liquidity.

Many businesses may simply conclude that it is more cost-effective to lay workers off ...