Happy Weekend Greenpointers! On Friday, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a crackdown on crowds in NYC parks with the NYPD now limiting the number of visitors to Domino Park.
The first distribution of the Food for Brooklyn food pantryis Saturday (today) from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. at the First Polish Baptist Church (55 Sutton…
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Greenpointers has covered Greenpoint & Williamsburg since 2007 — community boards, rezoning fights, local businesses, and the people whose lives and work give the neighborhood its character. Local news is collapsing across the country, but we're still here: independently owned, no corporate backing, no paywall. 18+ years, 280k+ monthly readers and followers, funded by the community we serve.
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The recent news about the plight of workers in mid-west meat-processing plants, workers who are coming down with the virus and dying as a result of unsafe working conditions, made me wonder if we do not have something similar in Greenpoint.
When I used to visit the huge Acme Fish processing plant on their retail “fish Fridays”, I could not help but notice the many workers going in & out of the hidden fish processing areas.
Is the plant still operating? Are the workers as safe and protected as possible? Have precautions been taken to keep workers apart? Have they been provided with the proper protective equipment such as masks, gloves and face shields? Are they being tested? Can they take paid sick leave and quarantine if they are ill? Or are they forced to choose beween starvation and risking the lives of their fellow employees?
This might be an excellent place for a journalist to investigate, to interview workers, etc. — especially with regard to low-wage and immigrant employees who might be afraid to speak up. They, their families, and the wider community need to be safe.
Workers cannot be sacrificial lemming “warriors” for self-serving President Bone Spurs, as he yells “full speed ahead” amid the Covid-19 icebergs that are still all around us.