A year ago, from the protected confines of their gated mansions, the wealthy found themselves cheering on essential heroes, the people they had previously referred to as low skilled workers, as they literally died to keep the wealthy’s food and Amazon packaged delivered without delay. A year later they are trying to cut the little aid they have to make them go back to starvation wages to serve their whims.
How much did we listen to the corporate media drone on and on in their phony piousness about how all the poor, desperate people dying in the pandemic were “heroes” only to now spend all day bringing on extremists like John Kasich to spew his hate about how a $15 minimum wage is far too generous. Turn the channel and watch a panel of millionaires on Morning Joe who sincerely argue that the miniscule aid the poor have received should be revoked so their “heroes” can get back to working their miserable, starvation wage job.
The good news is the people aren’t buying it. As one cheap business owner after another proudly goes on tv to proclaim he pays less than welfare it only exposes the reality of what life really is like for most people. I realize the millionaires in the media assumed people would feel bad for these horrible owners not being able to hire anyone, but it appears as though right, left and center agree that these people are not sympathy worthy. In fact, they are the problem as almost half the United States workers make starvation wages.
As stories roll out about businesses raising their rates to $15 an hour, it has been having mixed results. This hiring problem comes down to as much about wages as it does decency. A local ice cream store gets thousands of applicants when it raises rates, while a corporate franchise still gets crickets. People have had over a year to reassess their lives. With two people working, how much do your really net after paying for daycare, gas, and everything associated with that second job?
Is it worth being subjected to the humiliation it requires to be hired by these corporate behemoths to get a low paying, high stress job? Drug testing needs to go. It is none of McDonald’s or Walmart’s business what their employees do in their private life. How about checking your credit score for a low wage job? Does that seem like how you treat heroes in need? You want to know if they have a felony too? All this for terrible benefits, low wages and the ability to be fired at any time without cause or compensation.
So, why are these wonderful companies having so much trouble finding these essential people? The truest thing ever said is “actions speak louder than words” and their actions prove they don’t see these people as heroes at all. The people understand that. The people learned during the pandemic that the rich have nothing without the workers. The low wage workers are very much essential and you can either treat them like that, or continue to go on cable news looking like a clown about how good the people on welfare have it. Good luck.
