Near Union Square on Monday, Hassan Moujaj was among the last workers at a halal cart company called Rafiqi’s.
Business had dropped significantly for various vendors selling halal, Mexican food, bagels and coffee, and bottled water around the park as COVID-19 cases surge in New York City.
Rafiqi’s—which has an estimated dozen or so locations—had closed all of them except for where Moujaj was working on 17th Street near Union Square, his boss has told him.
"If business drops a lot, a lot, a lot, we're gonna close it," said Moujaj, a 51-year-old Astoria resident who works to send money to his wife and 2-year-old child in Morocco.
By the afternoon, he estimated business at the cart was down by three-quarters compared to a typical day.
"All the workers are going to be jobless right now,” he said.
If Rafiqi's closes its final cart, Moujaj is not sure what he'll do yet; food carts aren't hiring, and, likely, neither are restaurants, which have been restricted to delivery-only in an attempt to slow the spread of coronavirus.
"There is nothing on the horizon," he said. "Whatever is gonna happen is gonna happen."
Moujaj is one of thousands of immigrant workers that advocates say are “bearing the brunt” of the coronavirus outbreak as much of New York City grinds to a halt—delivery and takeout restrictions at restaurants and bars, closures of Broadway, movie theaters, cultural institutions, and gyms, as well as a drop in subway ridership as many New Yorkers work from home. (Even the High Line has closed.)
"While most of the city is shutting down, immigrant workers are exposing themselves to this virus," said Manny Castro, executive director of New Immigrant Community Empowerment. “As cleaning workers, day laborers, as construction workers, restaurant and delivery workers...their work cannot be done by telecommuting."
Castro's group was distributing bagged lunches to day laborers on Tuesday. As more and more parts of city life are impacted, some are outraged construction work sites haven't been shut down. (The city says it is "in contact" with the industry to ensure health precautions are taken.)
"Many workers are going to get laid off and the economic impact that workers are going to face, particularly immigrant workers, is going to be severe," added Steve Choi, the executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition. "The economic impact on the people who work there is going to be tremendous and it’s going to be severe. ... Immigrant communities are bearing the brunt of these challenges—whether we're talking about fear in terms of going out, economic hardships, the inability to work remotely, and then for folks, the inability to provide childcare to ensure that they're not getting left out."
Zhu Xian, 31, fixes a broken wheel in between deliveries from a restaurant on 14th Street.
As more people are expected to rely on deliveries, delivery worker advocacy group Biking Public Project wants the city to provide protective gear to workers—who are largely immigrants—and fast-track e-bike legalization. (On Monday, Mayor Bill de Blasio agreed to pause his administration's crackdown on e-bikes.)
"That’s fundamental to keep them safe at this time," said Jing Wang, a documentary filmmaker who speaks with hundreds of Chinese delivery workers in WeChat as a part of her organizing with Biking Public Project. A majority of workers she speaks with are Chinese immigrants in their 50s or 60s—an age group considered especially vulnerable for the virus—and many do not speak English or are undocumented.
"If they get sick, they still have to choose: Do they continue working or do they seek help or have the luxury to be able to take a break?" she said.
Another food vendor at Un Pedacito de Mexico near Union Square, Merced Ortiz, said, "There’s no business. ... It’s very sad."
"Let's hope [I can keep working] because how are we supposed to pay our rent?" said Ortiz, a 50-year-old Woodside resident from Mexico who helps support her son, siblings and cousins.
Hand sanitizer and a tip jar at a food cart near Union Square.
Mohamed Attia of the Street Vendor Project is trying to figure out if de Blasio's announced small business grants would apply to independent workers, like vendors. Business owners can fill out an interest form here. A spokesperson for the mayor said that small businesses who have a payroll, or pay a payroll tax, qualify.
"That nature of business makes it very hard for [street vendors] to benefit from governments grants or relief programs," Attia said. "They are the most vulnerable out there. They don't have any other resources to rely on except for vending."
Castro's organization NICE called on city and state officials to provide food and rent vouchers for workers, regardless of their immigration status. The New York Immigration Coalition wants city and state officials to suspend rent and bill payments, offer cash grants regardless of immigration status, and expand paid sick leave to 14 days, ensuring it covers immigrant gig workers, but even its director, Choi, said two weeks isn't enough.
For undocumented immigrants, such government programs can pose a difficult challenge. Undocumented immigrants may be fearful of seeking healthcare or other assistance, advocates have noted. Castro also pointed to the response after Superstorm Sandy, where immigrants were often left out of funding programs, he said.
"A lot of the funding is probably going to be tied up, especially the state funding, with federal requirements for families to prove their citizenship or their legal status," Castro said. "I hope that’s not the case, but we're looking at a difficult scenario."
This article has been updated with additional information from the mayor's office.
