As the coronavirus pandemic spread across the world, Vara*, a disabled, immunocompromised grocery worker in New York City, was forced to make a sickening decision: to keep their minimum wage job and be at high risk for contracting COVID-19, or safeguard their health and lose their income.

“My health had declined so rapidly. I didn't feel like I was living, just surviving,” Vara told Supermaker, recalling the stress of working―despite feeling unwell―so as not to use up sick days they might need later. “I could see COVID-19 getting worse [and] I knew there was no way I could keep working there. I had to quit. It would be too much for my immune system to handle—and I can't afford an ICU bed.”

As COVID-19 cases mount exponentially across the country, infrastructural devastation has crept into practically every industry. While some companies have facilitated opportunities to work from home, countless service workers have faced pressure to continue working under precarious conditions such as inadequate or non-existent health insurance benefits, zero paid sick leave, and sudden termination. These injustices have incited viral critiques calling for radical socio-economic reform and an end to capitalist exploitation. Even Britney Spears has called for revolution.

Even though 75 percent of Americans receive some paid sick days, just 25 percent of food service workers do, illuminating an already-existent need for industry-wide change. In the midst of this crisis, many employees have been required to continue showing up to work at non-essential establishments like restaurants, coffee shops, and retail stores, despite urgent CDC recommendations for quarantine and social distancing practices. And yet, because unpaid sick leave means missing necessary wages, many workers, like Vara, are faced with exceedingly difficult decisions.

While the current global pandemic has engendered unprecedented economic catastrophe, it has also brought to light unethical structural issues in which wage workers are denied adequate access to basic benefits and financial security. With exploitative labor practices impacting workers more rampantly than ever, some service employees are kicking open the door to more comprehensive labor rights nationwide, demanding justice from companies who seem to value profit over human life.

Choosing between income and infection

At a time when Congress has strategically excluded many workers from vital legislation, like the paid sick leave bill, marginalized employees are left all the more vulnerable to resultant inequalities as COVID-19 escalates and more and more businesses close their doors. Disabled or immunocompromised workers, many of whom rely on already-insufficient social services, must social distance or face an increased risk of infection. Without paid time off, their lives are at stake amid the hazard of rapidly-spreading infection rates. Communities of color, too, are shouldering a disproportionate risk. About four in ten Latinos working in New York City—many of whom are employed within the service industry—have lost their jobs because of coronavirus.

“If we’re sick, it’s our responsibility to get our shift covered. [Only a few] have been employed long enough to have any paid time off accrued,” says Chalo*, a barista working in a Manhattan coffee shop. “In the past, I’ve had coworkers who, in flu season, would show up to work and vomit and be sick. People get desperate, and they’re scared of getting fired. We don’t have any benefits. We don’t even have hand sanitizer.”

I see all the jokes about COVID-19 that people I consider to be friends making and I wonder if they know how scared I am as a hiv+ transsexual who works as a barista — 💪🏼 (@cis_jenner) March 12, 2020

While the novel coronavirus has brought about exceptional circumstances like cleared inventory, checkout lines that circle the block, and toilet paper hoarding, many company policies remain largely the same―and, in some cases, have worsened―as far as worker welfare is concerned. Safety policies have not been adequately implemented in many workplaces, and employees face various hazards like broken soap dispensers and bans on gloves and other sanitary equipment, despite the high risk of contamination.

