Thread by @Documentedny

Hi! I'll be livetweeting our #DocumentedTalks panel about immigrant labor organizing in the pandemic. @AmirKhafagy91 will be interviewing
Yolanda Zhang with @AintIAWomanNY & @FlushingWorkers, Rosanna Aran with @LWC_workers and Nelson Mar with 318 Restaurant Workers Union. ⬇️

.@AmirKhafagy91 says that as a journalist, labor has been the most underreported aspect of the pandemic.

"People talk about returning to the new normal. But these workers are saying that we're going to dictate what the new normal is going to look like."

"The workers are essential and the struggle is essential." -- @AmirKhafagy91. Catch up with his labor coverage here. ⬇️documentedny.com/author/amirkha…

In NYC there are more than 4k laundromats with mostly a woman immigrant workforce. @LWC_workers has found that workers were harassed and not even paid a minimum wage before the pandemic. During COVID-19, those conditions have worsened. #DocumentedTalks

The workers of Wash Supply Laundromat organized to get back stolen wages. In October, workers decided to make their own independent union. The company retaliated and tried to bust their union -- and eventually shut down the laundromat and fired everyone.

facebook.com/watch/live/?v=…

"Right now people feel like they have nothing to lose. They must fight back for essential things that they as workers should have." -- Rosanna Aran with @LWC_workers #DocumentedTalks

Yolanda Zhang with @AintIAWomanNY & @FlushingWorkers says that the expectations of a 24-hour shift cause damage to home care workers, most of whom are in the mid-40s and 50s.

"When you are in patients' homes, you sleep with one eye open," Zhang quotes one worker.

Zhang is working with other labor organizers to promote the SWEAT Bill, which would protect workers against wage theft. Gov. Cuomo initially vetoed the bill in 2019 but it is even more necessary with wage theft up during the pandemic, Zhang says. ⬇️ sweatnys.org

"Immigrant workers are the agents of change and they are leading this wave of movement." -- Yolanda Zhang, homecare worker organizer with @AintIAWomanNY

Nelson Mar is president of 318 Restaurant Workers Union, which represents workers of Jing Fong. It was founded in the 1980s as an independent union because the Chinese restaurant workers faced racism from the traditional labor movement. More here ⬇️
documentedny.com/2021/03/03/jin…

Landlords like the Chu family ("the Trumps of Chinatown," Mar says) cannot use the pandemic as a cover to displace working people of Chinatown, Mar says. More than a restaurant, Jing Fong was a community center and its closing is an effect of displacement. #SaveChinatown

We'll continue this discussion at April's #DocumentedTalks panel about the changing face of Chinatown. Join the Documented Community and stay up to date on our events and get access to past recordings. documentedny.com/join-the-docum…

By supporting our newsroom, you help us keep doing investigations about labor and immigration. Thanks for joining!

✊🏾 The panelists have shared some resources for folks who want to stay involved with immigrant labor organizing.

⬇️ Follow this thread that recaps NY immigrant labor organizing in 2021.

https://twitter.com/Documentedny/status/1377281925895892992?s=20