I had to run to the store this afternoon, which I’ve done before since the COVID-19 pandemic, but today I was a bundle of nerves.
I didn’t go down an aisle where people were standing. I stood and patiently waited my turn instead. I had to fight the urge to walk around with my shirt covering my mouth, but I don’t know why today had me mentally messed up, but it did. I even made sure to stand what I guesstimated to be about six feet away from the guy in front of me in the checkout line. I was hypervigilant and was growing a little impatient with his chitchat with the cashier because I wanted out of there.
And then I heard him say, “I’m going back to see the teachers who told me 30 years ago that I would never amount to much and tell them that now that I’m an essential employee.”
He looked at the cashier and said, “Well, you know, don’t ya, because you’re an essential employee.”
The cashier chuckled and said, “They’re paying me $12 an hour to run register because of this coronavirus stuff, man.”
The customer congratulated the young cashier, gathered his bags, and left. I was still a nervous wreck and couldn’t wait to leave, but I took the conversation I had overheard as confirmation for what’s been on my heart for a week: essential employees.
Here we are, in the midst of a pandemic, living a new, and hopefully temporary, normal. Those of us who can do it are working from home. Some of us have been laid off. And then some of us have been labeled “essential employees” and are leaving our homes every day to keep businesses – and our country – running. The thing about these essential employees that really is laying on my heart is that they’re mostly low-wage jobs. Sure, medical professionals, first responders, and truck drivers, for example, are working through this, but what about the people working jobs that pay barely over minimum wage?
Now, suddenly, they’re essential employees because we HAVE to have them working. And most of them are having to place themselves in harm’s way, coming in contact with people all day long.
Now, granted, several companies have made the decision to give pay raises to those in these jobs, but it wouldn’t surprise me if those raises end when the national emergency does. And that’s the problem that I have with it. If they’re essential today in the mayhem of the pandemic, then they’re just as essential all the time. It’s said that the three professions most commonly relying on SNAP benefits are cashiers, home health aides, and waitresses. In 2018, it was reported that Amazon received tax cuts while its employees received SNAP benefits.
And now a lot of these folks are “essential employees.”
I truly feel that there’s been a door of opportunity opened during this pandemic. I wholly believe the working poor/working class can emerge from this stronger and holding power. When this is over and life goes back to normal, it’s time to rattle the windows and demand change. It’s time we unite our voices and demand that we are still seen as “essential employees” long after the emergency ends. If companies can afford to give raises to employees during a crisis, then why do we not believe that they can afford to do it all the time?
I mean, look what’s happened! The government has said the “essential” businesses remain open. They cannot deny that the label “essential employee” came from them. They have proven the absolute necessity for people to work at grocery stores, restaurants, department stores, home improvement stores, and tons of other businesses, so this will be the best time for us to stand up for the working people and push for changes in policies that promise a living wage and help to move from surviving to thriving.
This may be the best chance we’ve had in a long time, and who knows when we’ll have the chance again. This, coupled with an election year, can be game changing because it will allow these essential employees to realize how important they are to the American economy in times of trouble.
I hope they remember how scared, sad, anxious, and/or mad they were every time they had to walk out the door to go to work. It will be that raw emotion that moves us to action. And I, for one, can’t wait to hear the windows rattle.
Stay well. We need you, maybe more than most of us ever realized.
Onward,
Amy Jo
