Since the start of this pandemic, Californians have been reckoning with another crisis: an economic meltdown caused by closed small businesses and millions of layoffs.

Many frontline workers have no choice but to report to work every day, despite risk of exposure to the virus.

These are our grocery clerks, farmworkers, our restaurant chefs, garbage collectors, truck drivers, postal and delivery people, healthcare professionals, and warehouse staff — and so many more who go unnoticed.

These everyday heroes grow the vegetables we eat, deliver our packages, and pick up our trash. They give us COVID-19 tests and check us out at the grocery store. They’ve safeguarded essential parts of our lives as we move through the COVID-19 crisis together.

And still, too many working people are fighting for their lives. They’re organizing and demanding hazard pay, protective equipment, and proper social distancing at their workplace. They’re shutting down their workplaces and striking. They’re standing up, not just to keep their own families safe, but to say — it’s never OK to put profits above a person’s life.

Even during this global public health crisis, multi-billion-dollar corporations in California are doing whatever they can to avoid paying their workers minimum wage, provide paid sick leave, and safety protections.

These corporations are planning to spend more than $100 million on Prop 22, which allows them to continue taking advantage of gig workers without providing essential benefits.

But we’re fighting back, Michael. I invite you to make calls with us next week on Wednesday, September 16 to make sure Californians know to vote NO on Prop 22. DEFEAT PROP 22 » We hope you can join us as we stand in solidarity with working people and ensure billion-dollar companies are not taking advantage of the very employees who make their businesses possible.

Today, on Labor Day, we remember the working people who fought for a 40-hour workweek, weekends, and a minimum wage.

We proudly stand alongside our unions and the labor movement for giving us rights and dignity at our workplace.

And we thank every front-line worker fighting for their lives to keep our communities and families healthy and safe.

We look to you, in awe of your courage and strength, to guide us forward in these times. Thank you for all that you do.

In solidarity,
Rusty

Rusty Hicks
Chair
California Democratic Party

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