Contributed photo
Reynamar Ortiz.
(Opinion) I work at the Omni New Haven Hotel at Yale, and the Covid-19 crisis has upended my life.
I’ve been out of work for nearly a month since the virus emptied out our hotel.
I applied for unemployment three weeks ago, but the system is overloaded and my checks only just started coming.
Everything about this situation is scary, but what worries me most is my family’s healthcare.
My child is diabetic, and he depends on two medications that cost up to $1,000 every month without insurance. Without coverage, I can’t keep him safe.
Omni says they will keep our healthcare coverage through May, but only if we pay our premiums, and with no promises after June 1st.
This decision puts me and my coworkers in danger. We can’t afford to pay our premiums when we have no income, and we can’t afford to lose our healthcare during a global pandemic.
Meanwhile, Omni and other hotel companies are being bailed out by the federal government. We need them to step up for working people in New Haven and maintain our health coverage until we can get back to work.
The coronavirus has hit New Haven hard, and all of us are scared. Working families like mine are facing new challenges and trying to figure out how to navigate them. I have so many things I need to worry about.
How will I pay my rent? How will I get groceries?
On top of all this, I am terrified for my child. If he doesn’t get his medicine, I might have to take him to the emergency room, where his risk of exposure to the coronavirus would be very high. Can you imagine having to worry about risking your child’s life to get him the medical care he needs to survive?
It doesn’t have to be this way. Omni could choose to protect our healthcare.
Times are tough, but Omni has access to huge sums of federal bailout money, while my co-workers and I try to survive while drawing on Connecticut’s overburdened unemployment system.
How am I supposed to pay my monthly premium of $150 on April 20 with no income and delayed unemployment? And what will happen to me on June 1? Will Omni take away even that option and leave me and my family with nowhere to turn?
Omni often says workers are like family, but they seem happy to put me and my family in danger. Omni needs to take care of its workers — not just for our sake, but for everyone in New Haven.
We are in a pandemic, and the more people in the community are uninsured, the more people get sick, the more people spread the virus, and the longer it takes for all of us to get back to work.
By refusing to cover our health care, Omni puts our entire community at risk.
This is a time of struggle and uncertainty for all families, and especially working families like mine. But it’s moments like this that test us – moments where all of us have a choice. I’m choosing to stand up for what’s right and fight for my coworkers, my family and my community.
I’m organizing with my union Local 217 to push Omni to extend our coverage and pay our premiums. We started a petition that has already garnered hundreds of signatures from Omni workers, other union members in Connecticut, local and state officials, and Yale affiliates and students. This shows me that our community knows the right decision, too. We are choosing to come together to protect each other.
Omni also has a choice. Will they choose to stand up for working people and the New Haven community? Or will they choose to turn us away, whatever the consequences?
The choice is theirs. I hope they make the right one.
Reynamar Ortiz is a restaurant server at the Omni Hotel and a member of Local 217 — UNITE HERE!
Click here for a fundraising drive that Local 217 has set up for providing relief for its workers.