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ALLENTOWN, Pa., Dec. 10, 2020 /PRNewswire/ US Foods drivers in Allentown, Pennsylvania, won their union organizing campaign to become members of Teamsters Local 773. Drivers are seeking improvements to health care and other benefits, an end to unfair work policies, and most importantly, winning a voice on the job.
The Allentown location employs close to 120 drivers who are not only frontline workers during the COVID-19 pandemic but have been fighting for years to gain respect and dignity on the job. Our local welcomes and congratulates the delivery drivers at US Foods in Allentown. They fought hard to win this organizing campaign, and we will fight hard to get them a contract with better benefits, wages, and working conditions, Teamsters Local 773 President Dennis Hower said.
We stand together in expressing serious concern with the Trump administration s vaccine distribution plan. While we are encouraged by recent reports regarding the vaccines efficacy, there is urgent work to be done to ensure vaccination efforts are both expeditious and fair.
Governors need federal funding in order to execute comprehensive distribution plans to guarantee that all communities have access to the vaccine. The Association of State and Territorial Health Officials estimates that a comprehensive vaccine distribution program would cost approximately $8 billion. To date, the Trump Administration has administered a mere $200 million to the states.
Without adequate funding, distribution will not be equitable. COVID-19 has laid bare chronic health disparities in our country that led communities of color to suffer disproportionately from this virus. Communities of color disproportionately suffer from pre-existing conditions, such as asthma, obesity and hyp
You are well aware of the desperate circumstances New York suffered at the outset of the COVID crisis and continues to endure today. We understand Congress is considering a short-term federal funding measure of approximately $908 billion in COVID-19 relief. As an interim measure, this proposal should address states immediate and pressing needs, and it is essential and fair that New York receive at least a minimum amount of funding necessary to stop further massive damage.
It is important to remind your federal colleagues that New York paid a unique price for COVID. New York s damages were a direct result of federal negligence. Unlike almost any other state, the COVID crisis in New York was caused by the COVID virus coming from Europe. Scientists have definitively traced our COVID strain to European countries. The Trump Administration was either unaware or did not inform New York that the virus had traveled from China to Europe and was traveling to New York State.