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MineralMan

(146,192 posts)
Wed Apr 15, 2020, 11:41 AM Apr 2020

It's Interesting That Many "Essential Workers" Are Also "Poorly Paid Workers"

Today is trash and recycling day on my block. The trash truck and recycling truck will pick up and dump our wheelie bins. Operated by poorly paid workers, who are classed as "Essential Workers."

The same is true of the clerks at my supermarket, the people working at the drugstore, and many, many others.

We depend on them. The government calls them essential. Yet, they are paid wages that don't allow them to live on their paychecks.

There's something wrong with that. Very wrong.

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It's Interesting That Many "Essential Workers" Are Also "Poorly Paid Workers" (Original Post) MineralMan Apr 2020 OP
Very true! SheltieLover Apr 2020 #1
You make a profound point dailytroubadour Apr 2020 #2
Yes. If they're "Essential" now, they're essential all the time. MineralMan Apr 2020 #3
Also minorities are a huge part of this essential group. redstatebluegirl Apr 2020 #4
That, too. MineralMan Apr 2020 #6
Its a good time for FF15 uponit7771 Apr 2020 #5
We have de-valued labor in this country for 40 years. Yavin4 Apr 2020 #7
Indeed, Sir The Magistrate Apr 2020 #8
Essentially slaves malaise Apr 2020 #9
Union! superpatriotman Apr 2020 #10
It does seem that the most important jobs in our society at this time... kentuck Apr 2020 #11
True... Newest Reality Apr 2020 #12
Slaves built the pyramids, too. MineralMan Apr 2020 #14
Well said... Newest Reality Apr 2020 #20
If any good comes out of this disaster, I hope that at least The Velveteen Ocelot Apr 2020 #13
Sadly, our poorest-paid workers have the smallest voices. MineralMan Apr 2020 #15
Given the likelihood of a long depression fescuerescue Apr 2020 #27
Actually, depending on what you consider poorly paid, PoindexterOglethorpe Apr 2020 #16
I used that example, because I heard the trash truck MineralMan Apr 2020 #17
I Was Surprised By The Illinois Number ProfessorGAC Apr 2020 #23
A coworker of mine once said that the poorer a worker's pay was, the more their absence is noted. nt raccoon Apr 2020 #18
Absolutely. MineralMan Apr 2020 #19
What else do you expect... tonedevil Apr 2020 #21
Have you also noticed how recent immigrants not only populate these low paid... EarnestPutz Apr 2020 #22
I wonder where those invaluable billionaires are in all this? gratuitous Apr 2020 #24
K&R ck4829 Apr 2020 #25
In most locations garbage truck drivers are paid very well fescuerescue Apr 2020 #26
The billionaire class is desperate for us to get back to work. Codeine Apr 2020 #28
Absolutely. Hopefully society -- especially them! -- takes note Hortensis Apr 2020 #29
I thought the Trash Collectors (at least those driving the trash trucks) got paid well JI7 Apr 2020 #30

MineralMan

(146,192 posts)
3. Yes. If they're "Essential" now, they're essential all the time.
Wed Apr 15, 2020, 11:47 AM
Apr 2020

We need to stop treating people who do important jobs we all count on as second-class citizens.

redstatebluegirl

(12,264 posts)
4. Also minorities are a huge part of this essential group.
Wed Apr 15, 2020, 11:47 AM
Apr 2020

I think that is why there is such a high percentage of African American's dying. Our mailperson is Black, our trash guys are Hispanic, the lady I love at the grocery store is Black and over 60.

This whole thing is wrong on so many levels.

Yavin4

(35,357 posts)
7. We have de-valued labor in this country for 40 years.
Wed Apr 15, 2020, 11:49 AM
Apr 2020

And we treat money manipulators as if they were Gods.

The Magistrate

(95,237 posts)
8. Indeed, Sir
Wed Apr 15, 2020, 11:49 AM
Apr 2020

There are many facets of our 'market economy' being shown up for stark nonesense in this crisis of contagion. Better the fellow who delivers the groceries than a dozen stock-jobbers or bankers....


"Defeat of a hated enemy is something to be for."

kentuck

(110,950 posts)
11. It does seem that the most important jobs in our society at this time...
Wed Apr 15, 2020, 11:52 AM
Apr 2020

...are also lower paid jobs.

Newest Reality

(12,712 posts)
12. True...
Wed Apr 15, 2020, 11:52 AM
Apr 2020

I use the pyramid metaphor, though those at the top may not see it that way or choose not to.

The entire system is really resting on the lowest workers as a foundation in one way or another, for now. I think we are going to see that played out during the crisis. It may not be directly hierarchical, but it is similar.

Meanwhile, we hear the wealthy justify their holdings and acquisitions. The self-made person. The hard worker who made it to the top, (there are a few, but not all of them). That facade of elite, justified entitlement has been rather easy to maintain. During a crisis or breakdown, it gets a flimsy and see through as cheap lingerie.

I think we should keep driving that home since we have rarely seen the spotlight on the workers who keep things running and yet, live most precarious and stressful lives with no more of that implied upward mobility of the past, sustenance wages and a paycheck-to-paycheck life until the grave. Inequity can have results for an entire society as we are seeing.

Down the roads, more automation and AI will only exacerbate this huge, inflamed wound in America. It will not just go away and get better, we have to make it so.

MineralMan

(146,192 posts)
14. Slaves built the pyramids, too.
Wed Apr 15, 2020, 12:00 PM
Apr 2020

There are many others, like nurses and doctors, who are well paid, but they, too, are risking their lives to do their jobs. However, for every one of them there are 10 others who are working for minimum wage, but are expected to risk their lives, as well. In the same hospitals, there are low-paid CNAs, Janitors, maintenance people, and others who are taking similar risks, but for far less pay.

It's important right now to recognize that and think about how it can and should be changed, I think.

Newest Reality

(12,712 posts)
20. Well said...
Wed Apr 15, 2020, 12:27 PM
Apr 2020

Out of chaos, order, as an old saying goes.

Times like these may be difficult and chaotic, filled with uncertainty and fear, but they also reveal the great cracks and faults in the system and that can give us an opportunity to change and improve it.

We also, notice how the upper-crust are asking for handouts and doing their best to do damage control for their part of the system.

I guess vigilance and solidarity are the way to go. We may be able to start acting on it. At least, we can start considering it and envisioning potentials while we ride this storm out for a while.

The Velveteen Ocelot

(115,280 posts)
13. If any good comes out of this disaster, I hope that at least
Wed Apr 15, 2020, 11:59 AM
Apr 2020

the people who do those day-to-day tasks that we take for granted will be fairly compensated. How essential they really are didn't become obvious to most of us until now. I'm staying home and having groceries delivered instead of going out for them, and obviously I need the people who deliver them, as well as those who collect the food, and everybody else in the supply chain. The mailman comes every morning, just as His Lardship and his GOP goons are trying to destroy the USPS. And there are all the others: Yesterday there were city vehicles going through the alley sweeping the remaining snow away. On Friday the trash collectors will come and empty my bins, as they always have done. I hope there will be a movement to treat the people fairly who keep the wheels turning when the rest of us aren't watching.

MineralMan

(146,192 posts)
15. Sadly, our poorest-paid workers have the smallest voices.
Wed Apr 15, 2020, 12:02 PM
Apr 2020

I've been thanking everyone profusely who is doing a job for low pay right now.

I can't pay them more, but I can at least acknowledge what they are doing.

PoindexterOglethorpe

(25,746 posts)
16. Actually, depending on what you consider poorly paid,
Wed Apr 15, 2020, 12:04 PM
Apr 2020

the trash and recycling people make reasonable money. Well above minimum wage.

Here's a link to average garbage truck driver salary by state. https://www.ziprecruiter.com/Salaries/What-Is-the-Average-Garbage-Truck-Driver-Salary-by-State

I know there will be a good number who make less than the average, and where there's a driver and the guys who hop on and off the truck to throw the garbage or recycling in probably make less.

MineralMan

(146,192 posts)
17. I used that example, because I heard the trash truck
Wed Apr 15, 2020, 12:06 PM
Apr 2020

come by, which made me think about it.

It's the principle of the thing.

ProfessorGAC

(64,425 posts)
23. I Was Surprised By The Illinois Number
Wed Apr 15, 2020, 01:14 PM
Apr 2020

That average might be skewed by central & southern IL companies.
The average salary for WM drivers in NE Illinois is $52k. That's $25/hr. The state average, per your cite, is $33k.
Folks doing that downstate must be working for minimum wage.

EarnestPutz

(2,086 posts)
22. Have you also noticed how recent immigrants not only populate these low paid...
Wed Apr 15, 2020, 01:07 PM
Apr 2020

...but essential jobs, but seem to be in the majority when the media interviews doctors and nurses in emergency rooms and intensive care units about how the epidemic has burdened their operations. One would think that we live in some foreign country what with all the wonderful brown people, many of them women, who work and risk their lives for us every day. The folks who hate all immigrants and want to build a wall to keep them out had better hope that they don't catch this virus and have to confront their bigotry in the form of a nice women doctor from Syria who wears a hijab and pats their arm in a comforting manner.

gratuitous

(82,849 posts)
24. I wonder where those invaluable billionaires are in all this?
Wed Apr 15, 2020, 01:40 PM
Apr 2020

We're told again and again how the big shots deserve all the millions and billions they've acquired, and it's just because we're a bunch of lazy slackers that we aren't fabulously wealthy, too. As drains on society, we should be grateful for any crumbs that fall off the table of our betters (and you can tell who's better because they have so much more money). But where are they now? Why aren't they pitching in and saving this society they've built with their own two hands? The way things are organized inures to their great benefit, but it's the folks on the sanitation truck, the field workers on the farms, and other overworked folks holding things together for the rest of us.

Maybe when this is all over - or maybe even sooner - we should all sit down and make some adjustments to how we order society and how the wealth generated by labor gets distributed.

fescuerescue

(4,448 posts)
26. In most locations garbage truck drivers are paid very well
Thu Apr 16, 2020, 08:40 AM
Apr 2020

At least the locations I've lived.

A good friend from college dropped out of IT work and took a job with the city picking up garbage bins.

He has a better retirement plan than I do.

 

Codeine

(25,586 posts)
28. The billionaire class is desperate for us to get back to work.
Thu Apr 16, 2020, 08:52 AM
Apr 2020

They realize, even if we don’t, that they don’t make their money — we do.

Hortensis

(58,785 posts)
29. Absolutely. Hopefully society -- especially them! -- takes note
Thu Apr 16, 2020, 09:06 AM
Apr 2020

and this catalyzes a return to the days when working people had power and decent incomes. The Democratic Party has always been on board. What we need is for this to "wash through" this conservative era as Trump puts it, sweeping Republicans out from power and a new liberal era in.

Meanwhile, an anti-science movement is being built on the right to make it politically feasible for red states to force people back to work and McConnell & co. to continue to block action.

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