That bill of rights would be focused rather narrowly, however, with the Governor calling on hotels and convention centers to “liberate your employees from forced mask requirements.”
“I hate to say it, but I think we need a workers’ bill of rights on some of this stuff,” the Governor said, so that people can “breathe freely.”
DeSantis described his experience as a public speaker, observing the dichotomy between the unmasked audience “cavorting” and waiters and bar staff forced to mask up by corporate.
“I don’t think any of these resorts or restaurants should be making these servers wear masks,” DeSantis said. “They don’t want to wear them.”
“I’ll speak to a group,” DeSantis continued. “There will be 500 people at a dinner. And I’ll speak. And nobody’s wearing a mask.”
“And I don’t think they should,” DeSantis continued. “But then they make the wait staff wear masks during that time period! I’m thinking to myself: ‘Why? What does that do?’ If they want to do it for themselves, fine, I think people should have that freedom. But in many cases they’re being forced to do it by the properties.”
A “workers’ bill of rights,” at least theoretically, would target that. Florida is an at-will employment state, but on issues of masking, it seems DeSantis wants the power with labor over capital.
The Governor described asking wait staff about “when are they going to liberate you from the mask,” adding that “they’re all waiting for it.”
“Any of these big companies running these hotels and resorts, liberate your employees from forced masking requirements,” DeSantis said, evoking applause from supporters on hand.
DeSantis made the comments during a news conference in Fort Walton Beach, where he was highlighting Florida tourism successes.
This article first appeared at Florida Politics.
This article appears in Feb 10-16, 2022.