NEW YORK (WKBW) — U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) announced Tuesday a proposal to reward, retain and recruit essential workers with a pay increase.
The COVID-19 "Heroes Fund" would provide a $25,000 premium pay increase for essential workers, from the start of the public health emergency until the end of 2020 as well as a $15,000 essential worker recruitment incentive.
Schumer called essential frontline workers the true heroes of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. He says the proposal is a way to reward their sacrifice, ensure their retention, and recruit additional workers.
The proposal would apply to doctors, nurses, grocery store workers, transit workers, and more.
“Thousands of New Yorkers across the city, Long Island and upstate are leading this fight and reporting to the frontlines of our state and nation’s pandemic response each and every day, placing themselves squarely in harm’s way to serve the needs of others,” said Schumer. “And this proposed ‘Heroes Fund’ would provide premium pay to these essential workers—the doctors and nurses, grocery store workers, transit workers, and more who are central to fighting this crisis—and would establish an incentive system to retain and recruit the workforce needed for the long months to come. Essential frontline workers sacrifice daily for our collective health and well-being, and I, along with my colleagues, are fully committed to supplying these heroes the financial support they deserve.”
