Low-wage Asian and Latinx workers harbor significant health concerns related to COVID-19 but lack basic safety and wage protections and information while facing retaliation from employers and harassment from customers, according to a new report published by Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus in collaboration with the Labor Occupational Health Program (LOHP) at the University of California, Berkeley.
The report, Few Options, Many Risks: Low-Wage Asian and Latinx Workers in the COVID-19 Pandemic, is based on survey responses from 636 primarily low-wage Asian and Latinx workers and captures the experience of California workers across several industries, particularly restaurant, home health care, janitorial, and hospitality.
“Vaccination will protect workers from the coronavirus, but a shot won’t immunize them against employer retaliation, low wages and unsafe working conditions,” says Alejandra Domenzain, LOHP Program Coordinator and co-author of the report.
Read the full findings and policy recommendations for protecting the health and well-being of Californians both during and after the pandemic: REPORT PDF
Available in Spanish and Chinese.
Selected Press Coverage:
- PBS NewsHour: Low wage, essential workers demand better protections in California
- Cal Matters: Pandemic reveals low-wage workers need better protections
- San Francisco Chronicle: Low-wage workers in California say COVID protocols are lacking on the job
- KQED: Low-Wage Workers Lack COVID Protections, Fear Retaliation, California Survey Shows
- Sacramento Bee: McDonald’s workers want more say over California labor conditions. This plan would help them
- Mission Local: Asian and Latinx low-income workers weren’t given masks, were fired for Covid-19 fears, report says
- Business Insider: Low-wage Asian and Latinx workers struggled to get COVID-19 information and didn’t feel comfortable reporting symptoms, survey finds
- KQED Forum: Lessons From the Pandemic on How to Protect and Support Essential Workers
- KPCC Take Two: Report: Tough Workplace Conditions for Low Wage Workers During the Pandemic
- La Opinión: Trabajadores latinos y asiáticos, afectados por el covid-19 y sus empleadores
- Daily Cal: Study exposes Asian, Latinx workers’ hardships in workplace
- Presentation for UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYGPH8Nz_A0
