Cuomo Proposes Hazard Pay for Coronavirus Frontline Workers

April 20th: Gov. Cuomo called on the federal government today to boost wages for healthcare workers, cops, firefighters, transit workers and others on the front lines of the battle against the coronavirus outbreak.

 In his daily briefing from Albany, Cuomo said Congress should ensure that the next COVID-19 emergency funding package bankrolls a 50% hazard pay bonus for all workers that fit into the “essential” employment category.  “Thanks is nice, but recognition of their efforts and their sacrifice is appropriate,” Cuomo said. “They’re the ones that are carrying us through this crisis.”

Congressional Republicans and Democrats are currently squabbling over how much federal cash to earmark for a small business loan program that ran dry in just two weeks after fielding millions of applications.  “Fund all those businesses,” Cuomo said, “but at the same time don’t forget teachers and polices officers and firefighters and transit workers and healthcare workers and nursing home staff.”