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In new ads, SEIU targets Trump over coronavirus pandemic, personal protective equipment shortages

Megan Messerly
Megan Messerly
CoronavirusElection 2020IndyBlog
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The Service Employees International Union is out with a series of new digital ads on Monday highlighting workers on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic.

One of the ads features workers directly addressing the camera talking about the need for personal protective equipment, such as masks and gloves, for all essential workers, including health care workers, grocery store clerks and janitors.

“A lack of planning and wilful neglect has left us without personal protective equipment,” the workers say. “President Trump needs to show leadership and make sure all essential employees are protected.”

A second ad features more direct testimony from health care workers, spliced with footage of President Donald Trump questioning how health care workers are using personal protective equipment. 

“Where are the masks going? Are they going out the back door?” he says.

The ads, which are backed by a six-figure buy, will run in Nevada and seven other battleground states targeting 2.6 million infrequent voters of color in both English and Spanish.

"Essential workers across the state are facing COVID-19 every day, fighting to keep Nevadans safe," Grace Vergara-Mactal, SEIU Local 1107’s executive director, said in a statement. “But without the protective equipment we need, we are putting ourselves, our families, and those relying on us at risk – and black, brown, and API workers are shouldering a disproportionate burden.”

SEIU Local 1107, which represents 9,000 nurses and health care workers at 11 hospital facilities across Nevada, sent a letter to the state Occupational Safety and Health Administration on Friday requesting that the agency investigate the lack of personal protective equipment in Nevada hospitals. The union has alleged that workers’ lives are being put in jeopardy in violation of OSHA regulations and federal law.

Watch the ads below:

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