Restaurant Industry Mourns Loss of Thousands to Covid-19 in New York City Vigil

The restaurant industry was the second most affected in cases of death during Covid 19.

Four years into the pandemic, advocates and workers came together to pay tribute to those who died in 2020.

New York state told them their income was too low to receive benefits like unemployment insurance, said Saru Jayaraman, the president of the One Fair Wage movement, adding that restaurant employees in New York were forced to work for lower incomes. at a fair minimum wage and before it was safe to return.

“Six feet of distance to be able to work in a kitchen is impossible, so there was a lot of risk of contagion,” recalled Tamara Núñez del Prado, a restaurant employee.

“They told us that we were essential workers, they told us that we were the feet and the soldiers against the pandemic. For this country to function, essential workers had to continue working because they were essential for their survival, not for our survival,” added Núñez del Prado.

A study by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation – the largest survey of service workers carried out since the pandemic – revealed that 3,293 restaurant employees died in our city, like Ax Rivera, a close friend of Estefanía and other colleagues. Eros. Loss transformed into inspiration.

“It gave me the strength to stand up and fight for every person I met. At that point I started doing recovery and support work for immigrants in Queens, in New York. And actually, after I found out that Ax died and I actually had several colleagues who died in different ways during COVID,” said Estefanía Gálvez, also a restaurant employee.

The vigil organizers said they will continue working with both the union and city authorities to continue increasing wages for restaurant workers.

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2024-03-15 19:52:00
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