This speech was given to the Bloomington City Council Meeting on April 20th, 2020.
Thank you esteemed Alderpeople and I want to say hi to all you cool cats & kittens out there. Right now during the pandemic, the city as a government institution must be a leader and require all vendors and contractors to have paid sick leave for their employees. 73% of American restaurant workers do not have paid sick leave. Without Paid sick leave, civilizations efforts to flatten the curve will take much longer. Just estimating, I figure the current stay-at-home order is probably going until at least June because of the incompetence of the federal government. I also predict that for the next year or two, we’re going to have rolling COVID-19 pandemics, as the novel coronavirus re-peaks and adapts frustrating efforts at a vaccine. Therefore, the City needs to set up the infrastructure to handle these repeated shocks to society, and paid sick leave is a necessity in managing the pandemic. While I know the City cannot mandate that employers not contracted with the city require paid sick leave, it could easily pass a resolution calling on the state legislature to pass an emergency measure requiring paid sick leave at all restaurants, excluding the actual small businesses who truly cannot afford it. However, the large chain restaurants absolutely can afford it, and during the pandemic we absolutely need paid sick leave for all these essential workers, and not just paid sick leave for COVID-19 but all maladies of the body that could be communicable. Not having paid sick leave is lengthening the first wave of this crisis and will help lead to repeating waves of massive infections.
In the Mclean County area, the following restaurants are NOT providing paid sick leave: Mcdonald’s, Burger King, Applebees, Sonic Drive-in, IHOP, Subway, Cracker Barrel, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, KFC, Chik-fil-a, Dunkin Donuts, Buffalo Wild Wings, Culvers, Jimmy Johns, Steak n Shake, Arby’s, Potbellies, Red Robin, and these are just the ones I’ve found so far.
The elderly, disabled, immune-compromised, pregnant, and those with pre-existing conditions should consult their physician before eating food from any of these restaurants for the remainder of the pandemic.
At the same time, I recognize that our actual local restaurants can’t afford paid sick leave even during the best economic times. So, I propose that some of the direct aid money being negotiated be given to our local restaurants (like Lucca’s and Tony’s Tacos; both of who are doing an excellent job cleaning and keeping their customers and employees healthy) to help them pay for paid sick leave if their employees get sick for whatever reason and need to self-isolate.
Please pass these measures. It could be the difference between a 3 month stay-at-home or a 6 month stay-at-home. Doing this would show how essential these workers actually are that we put in place measures to protect them. Otherwise, these workers aren’t essential, they’re economic hostages. Thank you.
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