Some Yonkers food workers are elderly and have chronic health conditions say they’re being pushed to the limit. and say they need more in the way of protection.
The coronavirus pandemic, which has shut down Yonkers Public School until at least April and probably beyond.
The health emergency sent home 27,000 Yonkers students and has presented unprecedented challenges for school food workers in the city of hills
They who are still working full—time to churn out meals for needy families.
Off the record, CSEA 9169 workers say they are having to make a choice of getting paid or protecting their health.
Some have opted to stay home.
But School food workers, many of whom are elderly, have to pull from a limited pool of sick days if they want to stay home.
But the Public School food workers that are on the front lines of the Yonkers’ response to the sweeping pandemic have been getting tens of thousands of meals to children every weekday.
They work in crowded kitchens in old school buildings with little ventilation, and interact daily with families to whom they distribute the meals.
For now, CSEA 9169 Union President Lionel Turner’s members will continue hand out meals for the remainder of the school closure.
But the consolidation into a handful of feeding sites means that there is now even more crowding for the food workers.
The truth is that there’s no social distancing there,
However, Yonkers School Superintendent Edwin Quezada has ordered that every food distribution center be given directions on how to maintain social distancing protocols each staff member is required to wear gloves, and distribution site pick up areas are deep cleaned daily.
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