Labor & Workers
Labor unions, workers' rights, and employment
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...
Rhode Island is poised to pass a $1 minimum wage increase and that's not good enough
"...no business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country," said FDR. "By 'business' I mean the whole of commerce as well as the whole of industry; by workers I...
Hundreds rally at State House to support The Nursing Home Staffing and Quality Care Act
“I love taking care of residents but short staffing and low wages make my job next to impossible some days,” said Victoria Mitchell, a certified nursing assistant from Hopkins Manor in North Providence who has been a caregiver for 23 yea...
House Labor bows to Senate, hears minimum wage bill with no path to $15
"It would be much better to be on a path to $15," said Alan Krinsky, the Senior Policy Analyst at the Economic Progress Institute. Rhode Island Representative David Bennett (Democrat, District 20, Warwick) surprised House Labor Chair Ana...
Senate Labor passes $1 increase in minimum wage, balks at pathway to $15
"The original bill that we had forth, which I am a cosponsor of, would have created... predictability," said Senator Gayle Goldin (Democrat, District 3, Providence). This bill "only addresses one year. This [bill] is a strategy that just...