He was joined on the call by two AFSCME members: Brian Miller, a correctional officer from Ohio and president of OCSEA Chapter 5110, and Miren Algorri, who runs a child care center facility out of her California home and is a member of Child Care Providers United. They urged their fellow AFSCME members to call their U.S. senators and demand that they approve a robust state and local aid package once the Senate returns from recess in a couple of weeks.
Miller, who suffered from COVID-19 after becoming infected on the job, said staff cuts and shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) that will result from Senate inaction “are a death sentence to corrections officers and inmates.”
“We already lost one corrections officer and a dozen inmates in the first wave, and that’s just at my prison,” he added. “More will lose their lives if the Senate continues to betray us and leaves every state, every city, every town on their own to fight this virus.”
Algorri, whose business has remained afloat thanks to state government intervention, said the Senate must act or countless day care centers like hers will go under.
“Throughout this pandemic, child care providers have been working overtime to find the necessary PPE and cleaning supplies that are needed to keep our doors open,” she said. “Many of us lack health care or are high-risk and the threat of contracting coronavirus is very scary. But we continue to keep our doors open because our communities and the parents that we serve need us. The Senate should be doing the same.”
Saunders praised Miller, Algorri and the AFSCME members on the call for their work and sacrifice during the pandemic.
“Even though many of our elected leaders have failed us, you continue to do life-and-death work with poise and professionalism,” he said. “During your communities’ time of greatest need, you are answering the call, showing what it means to commit your life to public service.”
