(BUFFALO, NEW YORK) – Richard Lipsitz, President of the Western New York AFL-CIO Area Labor Federation (WNYALF) - whose Regional Labor Federation’s 140 affiliated Local Unions combine to represent 145,000 Union Workers in the Public and Private Sectors and the Building Trades, has released the following message on the Coronavirus Pandemic:

We are living in emergency conditions.

Times like this bring out the best and worst aspects of humanity.

The Coronavirus and the attendant damage to the world economy creates the conditions for mass anxiety among all segments of society.

None of us are immune.

Yet, we must keep up hope and fight for the best possible outcomes from this very serious situation.

Furthermore, our statewide and civic leaders are showing tremendous resolve and bold leadership.

New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo, Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz, Erie County Commissioner of Health Dr. Gail Burstein, Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown and all their Health Care Teams deserve our utmost respect.

We should heed their appeals and stay calm, follow their advice and help one another.

In particular the Union Nurses, first-line responders and all the hospital and nursing home workers are dedicated to the well-being of us all.

We salute them.

Now is not the time to panic.

We can get through this crisis and in doing so, plant the seeds for a more just and caring society.