One dozen labor groups are joining a call demanding New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy act on pandemic funds for undocumented workers excluded from federal relief, writing in a letter that these workers and their families “have been left behind from aid for more than a year.” The letter from the organizations comes as a number of excluded workers in the state are now on day 14 of a hunger strike urging state leaders to act.
“Despite performing the life-saving and often risky labor that has kept so many of us safe throughout the pandemic, New Jersey’s nearly half million undocumented workers, the vast majority of whom are people of color, and their families cannot access the aid they so desperately need and deserve,” the unions said. “Our communities, our workplaces and our families suffer when so many of us are excluded from aid.”
The unions, which include 1199 SEIU, Unite Here Local 100, and New Jersey Education Association, note the creation of funds in a number of states including New York, where state leaders recently agreed to a $2.1 billion fund for excluded workers. But while Murphy has reportedly floated a roughly $40 million fund, advocates have said that won’t be enough to keep families’ heads above water. “Your proposal amounts to $96/person left behind from aid for a whole YEAR,” advocacy group Make the Road New Jersey tweeted to the governor.
”We support the demands of the Recovery4All coalition—to extend $2,000 direct cash payments to immigrants left behind from federal relief and $600 weekly wage replacement to workers that are ineligible for unemployment due to their immigration status,” the organizations said. They note that undocumented workers in the state “have contributed $1.3 billion in unemployment taxes over the past ten years to our state’s coffers, but they cannot access a penny in aid.”
Tuesday, April 20, marked the 14th day of hunger striking for at least 34 excluded workers and allies in New Jersey. Among them is Banessa Quiroga, a 34-year-old mom who lost the housekeeping job she’d held since arriving to the U.S. in 2007. “I get that I’ve been here illegally because we crossed a border,” she said according to NJ.com. “But put yourself in our shoes—we do work no one else wants to do, like work in freezers and on farms and clean bathrooms without any breaks or places to sit down. But I pay taxes like every other American citizen, and I assumed one day it would come back to help me.”
In their letter to Murphy and state leaders, the dozen labor groups said it’s “critical that our state step up to provide significant relief to these excluded workers and their families.” They estimate that more than 200,000 undocumented immigrants in the state have served in essential roles amid the pandemic. Make the Road New Jersey also noted that a number of union members fasted in solidarity with Quiroga and other excluded workers:
“I didn’t have the choice to stay home if I felt at risk or nervous about my health,” Karina Silvotti, another excluded worker in the state, recently wrote for NJ.com. “Because of my immigration status, I’m ineligible for unemployment and the stimulus payments. It’s frustrating to be left behind from a system I’ve contributed to every week since I started working at the grocery store five years ago.”
“Despite performing the life-saving and often risky labor that has kept so many of us safe throughout the pandemic, New Jersey’s nearly half million undocumented workers, the vast majority of whom are people of color, and their families cannot access the aid they so desperately need and deserve,” the unions said. “Our communities, our workplaces and our families suffer when so many of us are excluded from aid.”
The unions, which include 1199 SEIU, Unite Here Local 100, and New Jersey Education Association, note the creation of funds in a number of states including New York, where state leaders recently agreed to a $2.1 billion fund for excluded workers. But while Murphy has reportedly floated a roughly $40 million fund, advocates have said that won’t be enough to keep families’ heads above water. “Your proposal amounts to $96/person left behind from aid for a whole YEAR,” advocacy group Make the Road New Jersey tweeted to the governor.
”We support the demands of the Recovery4All coalition—to extend $2,000 direct cash payments to immigrants left behind from federal relief and $600 weekly wage replacement to workers that are ineligible for unemployment due to their immigration status,” the organizations said. They note that undocumented workers in the state “have contributed $1.3 billion in unemployment taxes over the past ten years to our state’s coffers, but they cannot access a penny in aid.”
Tuesday, April 20, marked the 14th day of hunger striking for at least 34 excluded workers and allies in New Jersey. Among them is Banessa Quiroga, a 34-year-old mom who lost the housekeeping job she’d held since arriving to the U.S. in 2007. “I get that I’ve been here illegally because we crossed a border,” she said according to NJ.com. “But put yourself in our shoes—we do work no one else wants to do, like work in freezers and on farms and clean bathrooms without any breaks or places to sit down. But I pay taxes like every other American citizen, and I assumed one day it would come back to help me.”
In their letter to Murphy and state leaders, the dozen labor groups said it’s “critical that our state step up to provide significant relief to these excluded workers and their families.” They estimate that more than 200,000 undocumented immigrants in the state have served in essential roles amid the pandemic. Make the Road New Jersey also noted that a number of union members fasted in solidarity with Quiroga and other excluded workers:
“I didn’t have the choice to stay home if I felt at risk or nervous about my health,” Karina Silvotti, another excluded worker in the state, recently wrote for NJ.com. “Because of my immigration status, I’m ineligible for unemployment and the stimulus payments. It’s frustrating to be left behind from a system I’ve contributed to every week since I started working at the grocery store five years ago.”