"Essential" Workers Deserve Better Pay And Benefits

In the face of the current pandemic crisis, we hear a lot about "essential" workers. Who are these essential workers? Are they the corporate CEO's? Are they corporate executives? or hedge fund managers and stock investors? NO! Those people are safe and secure in their gated communities. Those people are making money off the true essential workers.

The essential workers, the ones who make sure we get the items and care we need to survive, are the grocery workers, the healthcare workers, the building and cleaning service workers, the social services workers, the public transport workers, and the delivery and warehouse workers. Those are the people who risk their health (and lives) to serve us.

And those are also the workers who are least likely to earn a livable wage. And they are also the least likely to be covered with a decent health insurance plan. Most of them are people of color and women (see chart above from the AP). And a significant number are foreign born (immigrants - both documented and undocumented).

During this crisis, many have called them heroes -- and I believe they are. Why then, don't we treat them like heroes. These are not deadbeats looking for a government handout. They are hard workers who want to earn what they have. And they are not just essential during a crisis. They are also essential in normal times (when a crisis is not present).

The truth is that all people deserve decent health insurance so they can get the preventative and emergency care they need. And anyone willing to work hard at a full-time job deserves to be paid a livable wage.

That will not happen as long as the Republicans are in control. They have, and are still trying, to take health insurance away from people -- not expand it. For them, health care is not a right, but a product to be sold to those who can afford it. And they have blocked all efforts to raise the minimum wage at all (let alone raise it to a livable wage). They care only for the rich and the corporations. Workers, for them, are people to praise during a crisis, but not worthy of a livable wage or health insurance.

This is why we must vote them out of power in November. Only a Democratic White House and Congress will provide a livable wage for all workers, and provide health insurance for all citizens.

Frontline workers are heroes, because they do the actual work to provide all Americans with the things they need. It's time we treated them like the heroes they are.