Essential workers petition closing in on 500,000 signatures

A local man’s petition petition to assist essential workers is now closing in on 500,000 signatures as of Friday afternoon.

Najaka Carter, a local forklift and machine operator, began the petition calling for essential workers to receive additional compensation in the form of hazardous pay. The petition has received nearly 487,000 signatures as of Friday afternoon.

The petition calls for essential workers to receive an additional $600 a week in pay in the same way those who have been laid off due to the coronavirus in California are now eligible to receive an additional $600 a week in unemployment insurance benefits above their normal unemployment insurance benefits.

Carter said his next step is now to send the petition to Governor Gavin Newsom’s office as well as to U.S. Representative Kevin Mccarthy.

Carter’s petition states: “Take initiative to compensate the ones still working and at risk with the same extra $600 that the unemployed are receiving. This petition is for all healthcare, first responders, grocery, agricultural/food workers, farmers, field workers and construction. We should be paid from the time this epidemic began because when some were laid off we stayed at work at risk and risking the health of ourselves as well as our families.”

The petition notes those who have been laid of received the $1,200 stimulus check from the stimulus package, unemployment insurance and an additional $600 a week. The petition also notes while essential workers received the $1,200 stimulus check and their normal wages, they’re not receiving the the additional $600 a week.

The petition notes not all companies have been able to provide essential workers additional compensation and those workers aren’t receiving the additional $600 those who have been laid off are receiving.

The petition can be signed here: https://sign. moveon.org/petitions/essential-workers-getting600-hazardous-pay?share