It’s become increasingly common to hear people say that America has been shut down by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. This isn’t really true: Large sectors of the American workforce have been asked to function as close to normally as possible, and the rest of the country has been leaning on these workers more heavily than ever. The coronavirus has turned many workers into essential employees. But requiring workers to go into work despite their health concerns has thrust the industry's inequalities and unfair practices into the limelight.
A letter from Ryan:
" I work at a Big Box Retailer and have for a while now. It's not the best job in the world, but it's the best I can get for right now. I lost my good job and have been unable to find another. Life goes on, and I can't just look for work, so I have to take any job available. So I take a job working at a store. The pay is low, but it does barley pay my rent and bills. The hours are good, I start early and get out early. I have to wear a ridiculous outfit: that the company only gave me two of: the rest I had to buy with my own money. My boss is a typical two faced type: who acts friendly and then stabs you in the back. Often he will blame the company and say there is nothing he can do about anything. My co-workers are a mix of good people, ones that just do the bare minimum, and jerks. Naturally my store is full of favoritism and unfairness. On the whole though, it's a job I can live with, for now.
Then the coronavirus pandemic hits, and suddenly I am an "Essential Worker". Nothing at all though changes at my store: it's still the same job everyday. Except now I might get exposed to a deadly virus. Though a lot of other things are getting a spotlight on them. I only have two sick days and no vacation days. My boss is clear that I can't use my sick days, because he needs everyone at work: except the ones he shows favoritism to that come and go as they wish. Over time is still rationed to the favorites, but what little is offered I have to take: not only do I need the money, but they might black list me for no future overtime. The store provides us with no PPE or anything else. We have to pay for that out of our own pockets, with the small amount of money we make. Less money now as the store has cut hours too, and only the favorites are guaranteed their 40 hour work week. All of that and customer rudeness and dissatifaction are at all time highs.
And with all that: I still can't quit. I need a job. I need money to live and have bills to pay. Even if I could find a place that was hiring I'd have to start out at less then I'm making now. And the people would change, but the job would not change much. I'm trapped."
The coronavirus has also exposed how differently wealthy and poor people are weathering the crisis. Rich people have been flying via private jets, escaping coronavirus hotspots to go to vacation homes, and spending thousands of dollars stockpiling. Meanwhile, low income have been struggling to pay the bills and had difficulty getting to grocery stores to buy food for their families because of their hours at work. The gaps became clear almost immediately, when companies and governments began advising employees to work from home. Bankers and corporate employees could go remote. People working on the front lines of the restaurant and retail industries could not, especially as stores were flooded with panicked people stockpiling pre-isolation.
Millions of white-collar workers are telecommuting from home to stay safe as the coronavirus extends its terrifying reach across America. But millions of other workers — supermarket cashiers, pharmacists, warehouse workers, bus drivers, meatpacking workers — still have to report to work each day, and many are furious that their employers are not doing enough to protect them against the pandemic.
These workers are demanding what everyone else wants during the worst epidemic in a century — safety. They feel their companies are taking them and their safety for granted, and they don’t want to risk their lives for a paycheck, often a meager one. Many workers are angry that while their employers are doing a lively business, they haven’t given them raises or hazard pay, which some other companies have provided. “We’re not getting nothing — no type of compensation, no nothing, not even no cleanliness, no extra pay,” The United States is the only wealthy nation that doesn’t have a national law guaranteeing workers paid parental leave and paid vacations. And until the recent passage of an emergency coronavirus law, it was one of the very few industrial nations not guaranteeing workers paid sick leave.
On TV their are ads from walmart, ford....etc. proclaiming how much they care and want us to be safe. For years these companies have had disdain for their employees and treated them like garbage...in the middle of a crises the still treat employees like trash......now they want us to believe they care about anything more than making another billion bucks.
The silver lining in this dark corona cloud is that, finally, society gets to see who really keeps our economic engine and creature comforts running -- and it ain't the owners and bosses. Not to say they don't play a role, but they are nothing without the workers they too often exploit with low wages and no benefits. They treat them as virtually worthless, but now, finally, these workers are seeing that they are not worthless, they are critical! No American should work 40 hours a week and not be able to afford a comfortable life. All workers deserve a living wage, paid sick leave, paid vacation, health care, and (especially now) a safe working environment. (BTW, Democrats support these things, while Republicans pretend tax cuts for the rich will some day trickle down, but in the meantime, get busy pulling on those bootstraps and don't dare ask society for help!)
There's an expression: "an honest day's work for an honest day's pay." Too many people in this country do the honest day's work, but they are not compensated with an honest day's pay.
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