Milwaukee faces two crises: the Covid-19 pandemic and thousands of people out of work. The People’s Pandemic Response proposes Milwaukee policy-makers take aggressive action to protect public health and safety and ensure consumer, worker, and business confidence in the safety and health of every building of Milwaukee.
We do that by putting people to work cleaning buildings and enforcing health standards in good-paying union jobs. Buildings are cleaned daily by trained, protected cleaners. Masks and social distancing are enforced by trained, licensed security guards. And those workers make living wages, with rights and a voice on the job.
Essential workers have kept the city going. Frontline healthcare workers have protected and cared for us. Unemployed workers are struggling in a new Great Depression. None of these workers have a voice when decisions are made about them. The People’s Pandemic Response proposes Milwaukee policy-makers put working people at the table with employers and business leaders to make decisions together.
By putting essential services workers, frontline healthcare workers, and unemployed workers at the table with the employers in their industries, we can ensure that working people’s needs are met in the pandemic, in the re-opening, and in the preparation for a resurgence of coronavirus.