“A moral obligation”

Whole Foods workers strike for safer working conditions; Hungarian democracy takes a hit.

Tonight's Sentences was written by Cameron Peters.

TOP NEWS

Essential workers go on strike over workplace coronavirus risk

Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

Whole Foods employees at stores across the country staged a national strike on Tuesday to protest what many have described as unsafe working conditions during the coronavirus pandemic. Workers called in sick and are asking for hazard pay and paid leave. [The Intercept / Alleen Brown]
Strike organizers are calling for "guaranteed paid leave for all workers who isolate or self-quarantine instead of coming to work" and "reinstatement of health care coverage for part-time and seasonal workers," among other measures. [Whole Worker / Coworker.org]
As Vox's Anna North points out, paid sick leave is important for public health because "coronavirus spreads easily from person to person and experts say one of the best ways to contain it is for everyone — especially the sick — to keep their distance." [Vox / Anna North]
Contractors for the grocery delivery service Instacart also went on strike this week to draw attention to their working conditions and demand higher pay and more protections on the job. [Recode / Shirin Ghaffary]
And at an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island, New York, on Monday, yet another contingent of workers walked off the job in protest with a similar set of demands. [NYT / Noam Scheiber and Kate Conger]
Later that same day, one of the strike organizers was fired by Amazon; Chris Smalls, a warehouse worker, alleges that his firing was in retaliation for the strike, and the New York attorney general called for the National Labor Relations Board to investigate. [ABC / Bill Hutchinson]
Stay-home orders across much of the country mean that only essential workers are still on the job — but in many cases, showing up for work puts them at risk for coronavirus exposure. [NPR / Alina Selyukh and Shannon Bond]
Former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders, who are vying for the Democratic presidential nomination, have both voiced their support for striking workers. Sanders tweeted Monday that Whole Foods has "a moral obligation to take this pandemic seriously and stop putting profits over people." [Twitter / Bernie Sanders]

Hungary's slide toward authoritarianism accelerates with new law

Hungarian democracy received a punishing blow on Monday when the country's parliament granted Prime Minister Viktor Orbán emergency powers with no end date. Among other measures, parliament is now closed and elections have been called off. [Washington Post / Ishaan Tharoor]
Hungary has nearly 500 reported cases of the coronavirus and the law comes in response to the pandemic. One provision of the law makes "distorted" news that negatively impacts the government's efforts to combat the crisis punishable by up to five years in prison. [WSJ / Drew Hinshaw and Szabolcs Panyi]
As prime minister, Orbán's approval would be needed to roll back the emergency legislation at the conclusion of the crisis, compounding existing worries about Hungary's democratic backsliding in recent years. [Politico / Lili Bayer]
Rep. Eliot Engel, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, described the law as "a blatant power grab" and "a serious affront to democracy." "This legislation marginalises the Hungarian parliament and allows prime minister Orbán to rule by decree like a dictator," he said. [The Guardian / Jennifer Rankin]

MISCELLANEOUS

If you live in the DMV, stay home: DC, Maryland, and Virginia all implemented shelter-in-place orders on Monday in response to the coronavirus outbreak.

[Politico / Caitlin Oprysko]

Prisoners on Rikers Island have reportedly been asked to dig mass graves on a nearby island in New York. [The Intercept / Ryan Grim]
The Trump administration plans to roll back yet another environmental rule on Tuesday: the fuel-efficiency auto standard implemented during the Obama administration to curb climate change. [NYT / Coral Davenport]
Some good news: A high school teacher who saved a student last year by disarming him will receive the Congressional Medal of Honor civilian award. [CNN / Scottie Andrew]

VERBATIM

"Removing the majority of personnel from a deployed U.S. nuclear aircraft carrier and isolating them for two weeks may seem like an extraordinary measure [but] keeping over 4,000 young men and women on board … breaks faith with those Sailors entrusted to our care."

[Captain Brett Crozier of the USS Theodore Roosevelt on the coronavirus outbreak abroad the aircraft carrier]