Include Me and the Millions Like Me in Pandemic Assistance
By Kris Garcia
I work seven days a week at two jobs, both considered essential during this pandemic. If you have to fly and change planes, I run those bags to the second plane or take them to the carousel. If you get packages delivered, I sort them in a warehouse and get them to the right delivery aisle. I’m exposed to co-workers and surfaces that may carry COVID-19 germs and I have a compromised immune system, yet the recent legislation guaranteeing paid sick days and paid family leave during the pandemic doesn’t apply to me.
Both my employers are Fortune 500 companies. Lobbyists spent millions of dollars making sure they were exempt from the Families First Coronavirus Response Act.
Some may argue these large businesses already cover their workers. Others may say they can afford to do so. My story is typical of how many are in fact left out.
At the airline, you’re on probation until you’ve been on the job for six months. For me, that won’t happen until May. When I started the job, I knew I needed a surgical procedure. The doctor said sooner is better, but I’ve had to put it off until I know taking care of my health won’t get me fired. My family and I can’t stay healthy if we can’t afford to put food on the table or pay the mortgage.
At the warehouse, where many of us are part-time, you have to work 1,000 hours before you’re eligible for benefits. That will take a year. I work near someone coughing up a storm, but he’s afraid to call off because he fears he will lose his job.
Other big chains don’t offer paid time at all or restrict who you can use it for. Until recently, my wife was an assistant manager at Taco Bell. Her cousin, who lives with schizophrenia, had wandered off in the snow, gotten frostbite, and had to have parts of both feet amputated. My wife said she’d be at her side. The boss at Taco Bell told her, “If you’re not here at 4:00, don’t come back.” That was the end of February, just before this outbreak started to change our lives.
My co-worker has two family members who are both on life support as the result of this virus. She showed me a video of her sister talking to their dad, saying their good-byes on an iPad. This pandemic is tapping into the biggest fear we all have of dying alone or not being able to be there for a loved one. I know the sorrow and regret that will cause because my dad had to die alone — years before the pandemic — because I wasn’t allowed to leave work to be with him. That’s the reality when workers don’t have paid leave.
All these essential workers show up every day and risk getting ill or bringing something back to our families. It takes me 45 minutes each way to get to the airport, where we wait another 20 minutes for one of the shuttles to the terminal, since only 17 of us can ride at the same time. I leave for my second job at midnight, allowing an extra 10 minutes in case I get pulled over by the police or National Guard, to show them the letter saying I’m considered an essential employee. Every other night I get a full night’s sleep. The other days, I get by on just a couple hours.
What does it say about us as a country that we don’t take care of those who take care of everyone else? It’s time to tell politicians to put workers and families first, not corporations and their lobbyists. If these policies are good enough for you, make it possible for those you represent. Some companies have figured it out, but many others see employees as disposable.
For the last seven years, I’ve been part of a movement to win paid leave. Finally, elected officials are paying attention and Congress passed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, which provides some limited leave. And ironically, I’m not covered. We need to make sure everyone is protected — not just during this outbreak, but permanently. It shouldn’t take an act of God or a pandemic to recognize that all workers need paid time to take care of each other and themselves.
