It’s time to give essential workers the protections they deserve
The world’s essential workers have kept things running during the pandemic.
But many still lack the protections they deserve, such as maternity pay, pensions or paid sickness leave.
An upcoming summit, Essential for Recovery, will give these workers a voice and a space in which to address corporate and social leaders.
Justina Kgoele has been picking waste in South Africa for the last 25 years. Her income sustains her family, and her work helps to protect children in her community from picking up hazardous toxic waste. She works long hours for little pay, without a social safety net, and worked through the pandemic without protective equipment to prevent her from contracting the disease, or access to healthcare or vaccination.
In New York City, where I live, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic there were around 2.5 million workers on the frontline, keeping the city running – often at risk to their own lives. But others found themselves out of a job in one of the world’s most expensive cities.
Read more @Weforum
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