"Reopening Long Island and Building a Fair Economy: A forum series on suburban organizing and building workers power" by Mary Anne Trasciatti

Even before the global pandemic, life was challenging for working-class people on Long Island. With few exceptions, working-class Long Islanders struggled with low wages and high housing, healthcare, and transportation costs. Many were subjected to racism and ethnic discrimination on and off the job. The outbreak of COVID-19 has increased and intensified the challenges of working on Long Island. The April 2020 unemployment rate stood at 16 percent, higher than that of any borough of New York City except the Bronx, and well above the April 2019 rate of 3.1 percent. Many of those who lost their jobs lost their employer-based health insurance as well. Those who remain employed in frontline industries fear for their lives should they contract the virus, but stay on the job out of economic necessity. Every night at 7:00 p.m. in Nassau and Suffolk Counties, as in New York City and elsewhere around the U.S., people throw open their windows or stand on their porches or balconies to applaud these frontline workers. The enthusiastic support conveyed by this applause is heartwarming. But more needs to be done. Our reliance on the labor of healthcare, food retail, agriculture, transportation, janitorial and maintenance, and other frontline workers –a majority of them Black and Latinx— has forced attention to the often dangerous working conditions and low wages that typify these industries. The reopening of Long Island provides an opportunity not only to channel public support for policies to rectify the problems laid bare by COVID, but also to reimagine suburban labor organizing and restructure the economy of Long Island so that everyone who lives or works here can flourish.

To address the challenges of working in a pandemic economy and devise strategies for organizing to build worker power on Long Island, Hofstra Labor Studies and the Center for the Study of Labor and Democracy have partnered with two community-based organizations, Long Island Jobs with Justice and A.L.L.O.W. (Advancing Local Leadership Opportunities for Women), an organization that connects and develops women leaders in the labor movement, to present a virtual forum series, “Reopening Long Island and Building a Fair Economy.” The series comprises three events, each one focused on a specific labor-related issue confronting Long Island workers: workplace safety; access to care services for children, and elderly and disabled adult family members; and exploitation of immigrant workers.

Our first forum aimed to address fears and concerns about workplace safety and to provide information to empower workers so they can respond accordingly when safety measures are violated. Titled “What is Workplace Safety? Who is Responsible?”, the forum was held on Tuesday, June 2, at 2:00 pm. Approximately 125 people attended the Zoom event, which lasted an hour and a half. Panelists included Ani Halasz, Executive Director of L.I. Jobs with Justice; Nikki Kateman, Political and Communications Director for Local 338 RWDSU/UFCW (the union that organizes retail and healthcare workers); Marina Jabsky, Industrial Hygienist at the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (NYCOSH), and Alexandra Howell, labor attorney with the firm of Archer, Byington, Glennon, and Levine, LLP. Mary Anne Trasciatti, Director of the Hofstra Labor Studies Program, moderated. The panelists fielded questions about safety standards for different industries, enforcement of safety standards, advantages of a union shop for workplace safety, mental health and resilience training, and ideas for policy advocacy and organizing for COVID and beyond. The forum was recorded and will soon be posted to the Hofstra YouTube channel. Hofstra Labor Studies has also compiled a list of resources for workplace safety that can be accessed here: https://www.hofstra.edu/academics/colleges/hclas/cld/cld-papers.html. In addition to these valuable resources, the biggest takeaway from the forum was that workers must be vigilant advocates for their own safety, and the best way to do that is with a strong union.

Our next forum, scheduled for Tuesday, July 7, at 2:00 pm, will address the crisis of care work during the pandemic. This crisis has been unfolding since well before COVID, but it is particularly acute now as social distancing has disrupted school and care arrangements and women are primarily charged with filling in the gaps. Our third and final forum, which will focus on the impact of COVID on immigrant workers on Long Island, will be scheduled for some time in early August. Information about the forum series and RSVPs to register will be available here: https://events.hofstra.edu/index.php?eID=37739

Hofstra Labor Studies takes seriously its mission to serve the university and the surrounding community of workers. We are extremely grateful for this opportunity to deepen our ties to the community through partnership with terrific organizations like L.I. Jobs with Justice and A.L.L.O.W. Please join us for the forum series and future programs. We welcome your participation, your ideas, and your energy for the movement to build worker power and create a more just society here on Long Island and in partnership with allies around the globe.

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[i] Source: CPS Household survey data from NYS Department of Labor. Thanks to Greg DeFreitas for providing me with this information.

Mary Anne Trasciatti is a professor in the Department of Writing Studies and Rhetoric at Hofstra University, and the Director of the Labor Studies Program.