For Immediate Release
SACRAMENTO – State Senator Josh Becker, D-Menlo Park, said today:
I proudly voted to extend Emergency Paid Sick Leave to the very workers who have stayed on the job throughout the pandemic. Their work is enabling us all to recover. They stood by us. We are standing by them.
Today hope is not just on the horizon, it is all around us. Yet we must not let our guard down. We must keep our protections in place until we are certain the pandemic is behind us and until all the frontline workers who want the vaccine have received it. Too many of our essential workers, especially workers of color, have long been waiting for the vaccine.
Without these protections we endanger the lives of these workers, their families, and our greater community.
I also stand with and by my colleagues in our labor community who shared their statements.
Julie Lind, Executive Secretary of San Mateo Labor Council: “Emergency paid sick leave expired December 31, but there is no expiration in sight for COVID-19. We need EPSL immediately, so that workers throughout the state can stay home if they get sick, care for loved ones who become ill, and to help protect our communities from the spread of this deadly virus.”
Jean Cohen, Executive Office of the South Bay Labor Council here: “Paid sick days will allow for a full and fair recovery in California. No matter where you work or what city you live in, everyone should have the security of knowing that if you get sick, you can take care of yourself and your family without fear of being fired.”
I thank my colleague Senator Nancy Skinner for her leadership on Senate Bill 95, which enables this extension.
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Media Contact: Leslie Guevarra, 415-298-3404, leslie.guevarra@sen.ca.gov