At perhaps no other time in the history of the so-called U.S. has a crisis revealed who and what is truly considered essential in our society. Large towns and cities in the South and Midwest have begun reopening without a coherent national testing strategy and an insufficient supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) for frontline workers. As of June 2020, nearly 20 million Americans remain unemployed (although widely considered an undercount). The meager reinforcements that have come out of our do-nothing Congress in the form of expanded unemployment benefits and small business investments (the CARES Act, the Payment Protection Program, etc.) have also either found their way to major corporations, landlords’ pockets, or are set to expire (or have already expired). Meanwhile, more and more wealth continues to concentrate in the hands of an already select group of mega-billionaires. According to reports, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg alone have added well over $50 billion dollars to their personal riches since the start of the crisis. And yet, reports continue to flood in describing life-or-death situations for essential workers across this country, disproportionately impacting women and Black & Brown workers. With nurses having to share facemasks, bus drivers being forced by their supervisors to transport unsafe volumes of passengers, and Amazon associates protesting hazardous working conditions at fulfillment centers across the country, it is time to ask ourselves who and what is really valued as essential in the United States.
We recently caught up with one such essential worker right here in Roanoke. Although “extremely grateful to have a job” when so many are out of work, the past several months have been revealing. “I work at Food Lion in the deli. My job consists of slicing meats and cheese as well as frying the chicken and other delightfully greasy creations. When the pandemic first began to affect me and my staff, the rules began to change. One day we’d be able to run the wing bar, the next all of our packages had to be on a different shelf. One day we’d be making chicken salads and sandwiches, the next day a new rule would be sent saying that we lacked the supplies for said job. Every single day we had to be updated in order to be sure we weren’t breaking new rules that had been sent from corporate.”
Even though some superficial precautions have been taken – for instance, supervisors put up a sign requiring no more than “three people at a time, six feet apart” in the break room – shifting standards and miscommunication from corporate and management have resulted in generally unsafe working conditions for associates and customers alike. “It’s great to have a sign on the door to look like the company ‘cares’ about their employees when at points the deli is crammed with people squeezing past each other constantly. We have no plastic divider shielding us from the customers and many of my coworkers are older and are seriously worried for their lives.”
Although headquartered in Salisbury, NC, Food Lion is actually owned by a mammoth Dutch-Belgian retail company employing over 375,000 people in 6,500 stores across 11 countries. With recent annual revenues topping $60 billion, according to this associate, “you would think hazard pay would be no problem. It is. Two months ago every employee was given a dollar raise. Food Lion later extended it until May 16th. This is a time where there is a lot of uncertainty, and it would be nice to have a feeling of stability or consistency from the place forcing you to be exposed to many people for hours a day.” Before the arrival of Covid-19, she made $10.50 an hour. Her hazard pay bumped her wages up to $11.50 an hour, temporarily. If wages kept up with indicators like cost of living and productivity, even the most moderate economists agree that the minimum wage should be over $15, with many arguing for it to be well over $20 an hour.
Companies like Food Lion continue to roll out massive PR campaigns honoring their frontline employees as heroes. Some have even made token concessions concerning worker compensation and safety. However, the flashy advertising and bold headlines mask a treacherous reality for many workers in the retail, healthcare, hospitality, and agricultural industries (among others). “To say the least, I do not believe Food Lion cares about anything more than maintaining a façade. Doing the bare minimum is enough to please the customers and silence the workers.” When crisis response is left to the profit-obsessed CEOs of transnational corporations and the corrupt politicians in Washington, essential workers will continue to disproportionately bear the burden of keeping the country running.
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