Jose Romero
editor-in-chief
The way some employers are behaving is not very labor shortage of them.
About 4.3 million people in the workforce left their jobs, according to a report by the Labor Department. It seems as if a lot of people are finally fed up with toxic workplaces that told them they were “essential workers” but continuously treat them like trash. This is the perfect storm, and an opportunity to improve work conditions.
One of my favorite types of posts on social media right now are ones where an employee sasses their boss or calls them out on their wrongdoings. The bosses in these posts usually respond by telling the employee they’re going to be disciplined for talking to them like that, so the employee responds by quitting and the boss gives a pitiful “No, wait. We can talk about this.”
It’s disgusting how nothing has changed over a year into COVID. Delivery drivers, cashiers and stockers all continuously worked during the height of the pandemic and were compensated meagerly, or sometimes not at all. Actually, that’s a lie. Some Walmarts gave their employees stickers.
Initially, I believed this would be the major push for raising the minimum wage in Texas. There was no way employers would risk the lives of their employees every day without proper compensation, right? Wrong. As nearly 70,000 people died in Texas, workers had to continue working for breadcrumbs to stay afloat. Nothing has changed. Conditions haven’t gotten better, so workers are revolting.
Even though COVID has been terrible, the cultural changes brought by it are here to stay. People are realizing that happiness matters. That they matter. In realizing how much they matter, they determined that a company can be crippled without them. If a McDonald’s wants to continue overworking, abusing its employees, they’ll just leave. The whole staff.
I feel really bad for uber-wealthy owners. They’re going to have to start treating their employees with respect. This is the world those darn snowflakes want. One with fair wages, a happy workforce and a normalized division between work and life.
All jokes aside, seeing workers demonstrate their power and sticking it to the man is fantastic. It’s a change that could be felt for generations. People are finally realizing that working all your life to retire at 60 might not be ideal.
Companies have a huge demand for labor, but the deck is in its hands. If employers need workers, then show them how much they’re needed. A living wage in Texas is $14.01 for an adult with no children, according to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Living Wage Calculator. If children are added to the equation, it almost doubles. Meanwhile, the minimum wage is $7.25, and it’s been that way since 2009.
COVID has taken a lot away from people, but hopefully, not everything about it will be negative. Workers have the chance to have their voices heard.
