We salute our essential workers who are keeping Sydney going

Published on 08 September 2021

I want to recognise our City’s essential workers who are keeping Sydney going. There are more than 2.2 million people who live in west and south west Sydney, with more than 50,000 workers that need to leave home and work in our industrial areas, as well as emergency workers, health workers, aged care workers, supermarket and food processing workers, delivery drivers and manufacturing workers. We rely on all of you to provide essential services that keep us going. Without you, there would be no food on the table, no hospitals operating, no transport of food and no construction.

NSW Health has identified workplaces and households as where the spread is mostly occurring – and we know that more than 50,000 people go into the industrial areas to do essential work, and this is why these areas have a higher number of cases as opposed to other areas of Sydney that have more of their residents working from home. Workers contracting the virus in the workplace are unknowingly bringing the disease home to their families and potentially infecting them.

If you are one of the 50,000 essential workers in west and south west Sydney that must leave home for work – please be careful and follow all the necessary precautions while you are away from home – wear a mask, keep your distance, don’t gather in groups in the lunchroom. This is to protect yourself and your workmates, and importantly, to avoid bringing the illness back to your family.

Stay safe, stay proud and stay strong @WorkingWest.