How the Pandemic Changed U.S. Labor Organizing
By banding together to demand justice on the job, essential workers paved the way for a resurgence of labor unrest—and showed how to create a crisis for capitalism.
essential workers
New York City holds parade honoring essential workers—but many essential workers boycott
Wednesday was “a day to celebrate and appreciate the heroes who often go unsung,” New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said last month in announcing a parade to honor the essential workers of the COVID-19 pandemic. “We’re going to sing about them this day.” Many of the workers, though, feel so unappreciated that they boycotted the …
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ABB, EPI, and NELP Release Toolkit For Advocates and Policymakers On Model Policies Local Governments Can Implement to Raise Standards For Frontline Workers During COVID and Beyond
Washington, DC— Today, the National Employment Law Project (NELP), A Better Balance (ABB), and the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) released a toolkit for advocates and policymakers featuring four model policies that cities and counties can implement immediately to respond to workers’ calls for safety and dignity on the job—in the pandemic and beyond. The four model policies would advance …
A Year in the Life of Safeway 1048
Tekele Abraha does not run marathons, but she wears Hoka shoes. This thick-soled choice of elite runners can cost more than $150a pair, nearly a day’s pay for Abraha, who wears them to cushion the long hours she spends on concrete floors, six days a week. She hopes the shoes will stave off the grinding joint and back …
The ‘Trashman’ Who Became an Influencer
In the latest instalment of ?“Working People,” we sit down and chat with (former) Philly sanitation worker and Instagram sensation Terrill Haigler?—?or, as listeners may know him, ?“Ya Fav Trashman.” Terrill’s incredible and inspiring story took an interesting turn during the Covid-19 pandemic when he was working for the Philly sanitation department and started an Instagram account where …
Essential Workers Deserve $15 An Hour
I’m one of America’s millions of essential workers. We’re working in your children’s schools, at your grocery stores, and at drive-through windows. We’re cleaning your homes. And we’re struggling so hard to make ends meet. Congress is debating whether to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Experts say this would raise wages for 32 …
Grocery workers, heroes of the pandemic, left out on vaccinations, this week in the war on workers
“Grocery workers say they can’t get coronavirus vaccines, even as they help distribute them,” the Washington Post headline reads. But as the story makes clear, grocery workers don’t “say” they can’t get vaccines. They can’t. Unless they are elderly or have comorbidities in addition to being grocery workers—i.e., unless they are eligible for vaccination for reasons other than being …
Essential workers fear not just for their own health, but for their families
In recent weeks, essential workers have been pushed down the priority list for COVID-19 vaccinations in states including California and Massachusetts, a decision that is likely to cost lives among the people we rely on to keep us fed and keep the economy going. A recent study by researchers at the University of California-San Francisco shows a …
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The “Essential Worker” Swindle
Politicians, pundits, CEOs and think tank staffers have spent the past 10months effusively praising the heroism and sacrifice of essential workers. ?“I’m not alone in being grateful for the work you are doing,” Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos declared in a March 2020 open letter to the company’s workers who have labored throughout the pandemic, risking their lives to deliver hand sanitizer, …
Warehouse Workers Are on the Front Lines of the Covid Crisis. They’re Worried They’ll Be Passed Over for the Vaccine.
As Halloween approached, Ronald Jackson spent his days at a Chicago-area warehouse for the Mars candy company ?“getting Halloween candy to America.” After co-workers got Covid-19, Jackson complained to management about a lack of safety precautions. Rather than improving precautions, he said, the company fired Jackson for an alleged infraction that occurred months ago. Such situations are why workers …
