Muristek
Domestic workers, deliverymen, and day laborers marched across the Brooklyn Bridge on March 8, calling on New York lawmakers to create a permanent unemployment program for such workers and add $3 billion to the fund for excluded workers. Labor unions and other worker groups were calling for the state government to “invest in working families” with increased funding for the Excluded Workers Program, which was not factored into Gov Kathy Hochul’s budget for fiscal year 2023. According to the state website, the program provided more than $2 billion to over 128,000 of New York’s “most vulnerable workers during the pandemic.” As of March 8, the site indicates that the program has ended and the funds have been fully distributed. Footage from New York Communities for Change shows workers carrying a sign across the bridge that reads, “Always Essential, Excluded No More.” The camera pans to show the adjacent Manhattan Bridge, which had also been held up by protesters on Tuesday morning, footage shows. New York City Comptroller Brad Lander attended the rally, writing on Twitter, “So many of the workers who kept our city running during the darkest days of the pandemic have been left out of federal relief … It’s time to replenish and expand the excluded workers fund.” Credit: New York Communities for Change via Storyful
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