The Pandemic and Underprivileged Essential Worker Rights

Today as I waited to pick up groceries contact-free at curbside, I had a few moments to contemplate the life of the essential worker who would deliver my groceries. As she walks away, I realize how little control she has over her life. The rights and lives of the underprivileged like her are highly controlled. That is what happened during slavery, what happens to the likes of George Floyd, and what is happening to underprivileged essential workers.

I work remotely. The worker is at the store, sharing the air space with her colleagues and the customers — different strangers every day. While the medical advice to avoid the virus is to minimize the time spent indoor with others, her workday brings the exact opposite. She has little control over her space and visitors. If customers wear a mask, at least she has a safety net. Every customer without a mask pokes a hole through that net.

Can an essential worker perhaps quit if their conditions are unsafe? Unlikely. If they quit or if they are fired for a fault of their own, they are not eligible for unemployment benefits. With their wages barely keeping them above the poverty level, they don’t have enough savings to live without these benefits.

Home life is no less stressful for the typical essential worker. Unlike my home with just two people, the underprivileged essential worker’s home is likely a shared dwelling with many making it easier to contract the virus. Here is an article that tells the tale of 12, not all of them related, living in a 3-bedroom house when the virus entered their lives. Unfortunately, the virus is only one major problem for them. Even when it is gone, other problems will remain.

The system that is working so well for the privileged who control it is not so kind to the underprivileged essential workers who make that system run. They risk getting the virus, yet their health care may not be covered. Even when fully employed, their pay is barely enough to raise a family or save. In a great society, workers need basic rights to control their lives: Health care and a living wage for the employed and a survival benefit for the unemployed.

A bit about me.

The inspiration for this writing comes from my students’ generation.