Hazard Pay

I’m not entirely sure what my coworkers think of me. I’m an anti-capitalist who reads political-social-economic analysis for fun. I have an odd philosophical outlook that blends radical politics and Christian ethics.

Whenever I can I try to make sure my coworkers know that skipping the breaks we are entitled to isn’t any kind of noble act. If I really have someone’s ear I try to talk about how that money the stock owners make isn’t coming magically out of thin air but instead there are real people creating that wealth. Us and people like us are working and they’re skimming the cream off of the top. As the Bible says, “They reap where they don’t sow.”

Since the spread of coronavirus began being headline news I’ve been telling any co-worker who will listen that we should be getting hazard pay, defined by the U.S. Department of Labor as "additional pay for performing hazardous duty or work involving physical hardship."

Do you think Mr. CEO is going home with a sore back after hauling pallet after pallet of bottled water out for the hoarders? You don’t think those office workers folks are telecommuting, working from home? They maybe have a few dozen folks coming through their space on a normal day while we have a few hundred at least!

With this reality of coming into contact with so many customers I truly believe it isn’t a matter of if but when for us. Avoid gatherings of ten people? In our huge, high volume store we have ten people in the break room at lunch. Try and keep six feet between persons? The isle I’m stocking food in isn’t even six feet wide. The company doesn’t even have hand sanitizer for us and it's my understanding that most stores in our chain ban folks from wearing face masks. Surely sooner or later we will be exposed.

I work in the grocery department of one of those huge superstores we're all familiar with. They're a company that made record profits the past few years. And on top of that guess what? They’re selling a ton of stuff since the advent of the coronApocalypse. When was the last time you went into a store and saw every paper product gone, every can of soup or box of pasta? We have the new phenomenon of people gathering outside the doors before we open at 7 AM and are dealing with huge lines every day. Corona has ushered in a decidedly more grim “Black Friday" type of atmosphere. Echos of the holiday season's "Do we have anymore airpods?" can be heard in today's "Is there any toilet paper left?"

The workers should be getting our share of that. We are the ones doing the work and we are the ones interacting with the potentially sick public.