They're Turning Their Backs on Workers
This is absurd. In the middle of a deadly pandemic, the state legislature has made its priority clear— and it's NOT protecting hard-working Tennesseans from COVID-19.
On Monday state lawmakers are heading back to the Capitol to vote on the "Tennessee COVID-19 Recovery Act.” This bill does nothing to protect the hundreds of thousands of Tennesseans that have been going to work throughout this pandemic to keep us healthy, safe and fed where workplace conditions have exposed them to COVID-19.
Instead, this bill will let employers off the hook for callously exposing their workers to COVID-19. The bill practically encourages Big Business to flagrantly ignore government COVID-19 safety guidelines - it removes all consequences for employers and creates no protections for workers. If this legislation passes, companies will continue to put workers, families, and the public in harm’s way, and there will be no remedy for the victims who fall ill.
They will also vote on two bills that will make it easier to prosecute people for protesting. Instead of punishing people for exercising their rights, we need our legislators to ensure that workers are protected and all communities have access to the resources that we need.
The pandemic has exposed deep structural and racial inequities in our health and economic systems. Decades of structural racism mean more Black Americans and people of color are working jobs on the frontlines of the pandemic, where they continue to be exposed and infected with COVID-19 and are dying at higher rates.
Tennessee legislators and elected officials should be doing everything they can to protect workers and prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the workplace – instead they are giving employers immunity for getting workers sick and violating workers’ core rights on the job.
Take action now and urge our legislators to put workers before profits!
We must demand that Governor Lee, city and county mayors, state and local legislators, and health departments use their authority immediately to issue clear, enforceable regulations for all businesses in Tennessee. Businesses must be required to implement robust COVID-19 specific health and safety guidelines that cover all workers, regardless of immigration status.