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We need Hazard Duty Pay during COVID19 outbreak – SEND the message!

June 10, 2020
Chris Knapp

Use our automated contact form below to send a message to House Appropriations and Senate Finance Committee members today, and demand that Texas increases funding and provide hazard duty pay for all state employees!

State Employees are risking their health and well-being every day to keep vital services function during this COVID-19 outbreak. We need legislators to ACT immediately and address Coronavirus inspired turnover by front line state employees. Turnover that’s growing after the confirmation of the first COVID-19 death of a State Employee at the El Paso Psychiatric Center.

Private sector employers across the country (such as Costco, Amazon, Whole foods, HEB, Lowe’s, Target, Starbucks and more) have already recognized the need to increase compensation for their employees by $2-3hr. This would equate to a $500 a month raise for salaried state employees.

The Federal Government has allocated emergency funding of over $11 billion to Texas, $8 billion to the State itself and the remainder divided among counties with a population over 500,000. A fourth round of federal relief could see additional funding for state relief in the next month.
A $500/month raise for all 150,000 state employees would cost about $900 million for the year.

E-mail the following message to the  members of the Senate Finance and House Appropriations committees. 

*Be sure to send your letter during a work break or off work hours. We urge all respondents to use their personal contact information and not a work email address or phone number. A full listing of House and Senate committee members can be found below. 

[THE FOLLOWING PRE-LOADED MESSAGE WILL BE SENT IN THE EMAIL – you may also include an additional personal message in the space below that will be sent in the email along with to this text]
State employees are on the front lines providing essential services to the taxpayers of our state. We are putting ourselves and our families at a daily risk of infection from COVID-19.
As a member of the budget committee, you have the authority to influence the spending of federal emergency funds. We ask that emergency funding is used to provide COVID-19 hazard duty pay of $3/hour or $500/month to prevent turnover. This approach has been taken by employers across the country such as Costco, Amazon, Whole Foods, HEB, Lowe’s, Target and Starbucks to maintain the staffing levels needed to carry out essential functions – Texas state employees should be treated the same. State Employees are overworked, underpaid, and deserving of additional compensation.

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After sending an email, contact members of the House Appropriations and Senate Finance Committees from your area (see list below) – as a phone script, feel free to use the email message above:

CALL  TARGETS GEOGRAPHICALLY CLOSEST TO YOU!

NORTH:

EAST/Houston:

SOUTH:

WEST:

CENTRAL: