NEJB Delivers Urgently Needed PPE to NY Disability Care Workers

NEJB members working in the disability care industry in New York State have been on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic. These members care for people with developmental disabilities in residential settings and are vital to ensuring that society’s most vulnerable are able to live healthy and fulfilling lives. Disability care workers have been working around the clock caring for their residents, some of whom have been diagnosed with COVID 19 or have had to quarantine because of it. Every step of the way our members have provided top notch care to these individuals to ensure that they stay and remain healthy. Disability care work is severely undervalued in our society. Workers in this industry are paid through state reimbursed medicaid dollars and have to fight to ensure that the work they do everyday is valued through state funding.

Our members in this industry have confronted the pandemic and its effects head on often with limited or inadequate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). Through a strong partnership with New York State Senator Andrea Stewart Cousins and the help of Governor Andrew Cuomo, we were proud to be able to provide 2,000 N95 respirator masks to our members at Local 919 Richmond Community Services in Westchester County New York. Pictured below are the stewards and members of Local 919 receiving the masks for distribution at one of the agency’s residential facilities. We are proud to represent these workers and the sacrifices they have made to protect our neighbors, friends, and families. They deserve respect and through their union, they are winning it.