Labor & Workers
Labor unions, workers' rights, and employment
Charlesgate Nursing Center workers win $10/hour hazard pay; Caravan turns to Dept of Health
"As of early this week, over 75% COVID-19 related deaths in Rhode Island were in nursing homes or other congregate settings." Today, April 22 at 3:15pm, frontline nursing home workers - including those from Charlesgate Nursing Center tha...
Butler Hospital healthcare professionals demand PPE for all workers
With at least 10 confirmed COVID-19 cases, dozens of frontline workers demand Administrators stop putting staff & patients at risk. Frontline staff at Butler Hospital filled 100+ cars in a protest caravan outside their facility to demand...
Front line workers demand Bannister Center provide hazard pay, PPE and safe staffing
"My co-workers could be home - especially the ones that get paid nothing - they could be home collecting, but they still come to work." Frontline healthcare workers and supporters held an “emergency caravan,” circling the Bannister Cente...
Frontline workers hold "emergency caravan" for hazard pay, PPE and safe staffing
"We could be at home collecting unemployment, plus getting $600 a week, which, we don't even make $600 a week without working overtime." Direct support professionals caring for adults with developmental disabilities and supporters held a...
Additional pay for frontline workers must come from federal government, says Raimondo
"The best way to handle that, I believe, is for the federal government to provide them with a wage subsidy." "If the Governor does not have the power to raise the wages for essential, frontline workers, shouldn't the Rhode Island General...
Aletha Browne on the lack of pay, staffing and PPE she endures as a CNA during the COVID-19 pandemic
"Right now, people are quitting. People are calling out because they're so scared to risk their family because they don't have protective clothes at work." "Even though the virus played a big impact, the staffing was terrible from the be...
Raise the Bar calls on RI nursing home industry to invest its millions in profit in frontline caregivers and residents amid pandemic
"We risk our lives to come here every day, just to make a difference," said Aletha Browne, a ward clerk/med tech at Pawtucket Skilled Nursing and Rehab. As nursing home workers struggle with lack of PPE, supplies, staffing & training, ne...
Low-wage workers are being hit the hardest during pandemic, says Governor Raimondo
But the Governor says little to ensure that they will be supported economically during and after the crisis... UpriseRI's question to Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo at her daily press briefing was sparked by the news that a group of...
Chambers of Commerce weaponize coronavirus against workers
"It is so coincidental that the coronavirus is aiding the opposition to this bill..." said House Labor Chair Anastasia Williams with some sarcasm. Highly paid lobbyists appeared before the House Labor Committee on Wednesday to testify ag...
Graduate students march to pressure Brown University to final agreement on contact
"You may have noticed that we are gathered here today with pots and pans," said Melody, a fourth year music student. "Why is that? This is called a cacerolazo. It's a protest tactic from Latin America. It's typically working class. The i...