Hereinafter Weeks of Howl Raised by business owners and Republican politicians across the country on how stimulus checks, along with unemployment benefits, encouraged people to stay away from work, President Joe Biden has decided to weigh up and give undeserved legitimacy to the insincere debate.
Speak on monday in the east room, Biden told reporters that his White House will „make it clear” that people who are currently accepting unemployment benefits must find „suitable jobs” if they are offeredor risk losing their benefits. The president’s remarks come after a downright depressing job report last Thursday, which showed that only about 260,000 jobs were created in the past month, compared to the original forecast of 1 million.
It’s an odd move for Biden, who mainly advocated stimulus checks and the $ 300 unemployment supplement, both of which remain hugely popular political positions. The comment on the unemployed now seems to be a quote from a right-wing narrative that insists that unemployed people are largely lazy freeloaders who would rather collect meager government checks than earn a fair, livable wage. And then of course there is the fundamental question at the heart of the President’s argument: What exactly is a suitable job?
Under the president’s new guidance, workers would theoretically be forced to explain to the government why they turned down a job offer. Nor did Biden outline what type of work his administration would consider „appropriate”; Would people have to accept shitty part-time work even if it didn’t cover their bills? Alternatively, would the government require people to take jobs that endanger their physical or mental health in order to make ends meet?
At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, some pretty extreme vulnerabilities were exposed in the American labor market and economy. When restaurants were forced to close their doors, revenues in businesses of all types plummeted and millions were unable to do their jobs. During those months, state and federal unemployment programs were a vital lifeline for both American families and the economy.
However, once it became clear that the pandemic would not resolve on its own in a few weeks – especially given the ineptitude that plagued the previous government’s efforts to contain the virus – lawmakers and business owners insisted that there was a surefire way to resolve the issue Return to work. Workers in industries of all kinds put on masks, kept cleaning their hands, and tried to get used to the job at a time both miserable and dangerous.
This is especially true for the catering industry. We’ve all seen the memes online: your local Arby’s is understaffed because there just aren’t enough people willing to make coolattas and fries for $ 7 an hour in the middle of a pandemic, and nearby Tex-Mex has to close on Mondays now. According to some very concerned people on Facebook and Dipshit experts like Tucker CarlsonThis all points to the decline in American work ethic, thanks to the lavish, luxurious lifestyle that comes with raising a maximum of $ 800 a week.
Of course, none of these people are ready to acknowledge how bad it is be a line chef or Driving for UberEats or Making fries at McDonalds may actually be, and that workers may have rightly decided not to take it anymore. Over the past year, restaurant workers have been forced to compete against customers ideologically opposed to wearing masks and endure brutal working conditions as demand fluctuates and social distancing measures were implemented. Maybe after 11 months spat at, threatened, yelled at, sexually molested, hit over the head with cocktail glasses, and from the risk of actual deathMany of the top service workers decided that these jobs were actually not „suitable”.
In a letter to the editor of the Daytona Beach News-Journal, former sauteed cook Kate Sanderson turned down the narrative that restaurant workers who were claiming unemployment benefits at any point during the pandemic were „lazy”“To explain that her decision to work less in 2020 was specifically tied to her decision to get out of an industry that she knew was harmful. “I am confident that I am not lazy. I reject the risks endemic to restaurants in favor of another risk: investing in my future, ”wrote Sanderson. “I achieved financial success to pursue a worthy job that rewards me for my talents. I am preparing to contribute to our local community. ”
This is a point that Biden himself addressed later in Monday’s press conference. „I think people who say Americans don’t work even if they find a good and fair opportunity are underestimating the American people,” Biden said. Which is definitely weird to point out right away that there are actually enough freeloaders using the system instead of going back to work for the President of the United States to tackle it.
The food service industry and many other industries that employ poorly paid workers have real soul searching to do. Employers need to find out why People would rather work in Amazon warehouses, Where Peeing in bottles in your free time is the order of the daywhen back to waiting tables or bartenders. It is imperative that it find a way to compensate its workers more equitably and to eradicate the systemic inequality that plagues it. Then and only then can restaurant owners complain about people who don’t want to work in restaurants.
What is most annoying about Biden’s remarks is that, like the anger that inspired them, they are mostly hot air and likely never really turn into real politics. Most states currently require the unemployed to be looking for a certain amount of work and there is no real way of proving whether or not a job offer is actually „suitable” for a particular person. Biden’s testimony is utterly stupid for Republicans. who plan to fight another $ 300 weekly unemployment benefit extension. It’s already at the state level in Republican-led states like Alabama, Arkansas, and Montanawhere lawmakers have announced that they will no longer participate in the programs that are putting extra money in the pockets of its citizens.
However, the president could develop policy proposals aimed at meaningfully improving working conditions for workers in all sectors. He could instruct the Department of Labor to impose stricter penalties on employers who engage in wage theft, require companies to give their employees paid sick leave, and develop national safety standards for people working in hazardous industries. He could be harder for the blunt PRO ActThis would make it easier for millions of workers to join together in union organizations.
It is especially annoying for the president to propose that people take jobs they cannot support, even after working 40 hours a week. That suggestion is incredibly offensive to the millions of line cooks and servers, as well as meat packers and valet parkers who were pulling 12-hour shifts before the pandemic and still couldn’t afford to pay rent and utility bills with the same paycheck.
Perh’s President Biden could be more aggressive in advocating a significant increase in the federal minimum wage. That, to borrow his words, would not turn its back on our fellow Americans after a year of trauma and uncertainty.
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