Episode 131: The "Essential Worker" Racket - How 'COVID Hero' Discourse Is Used To Discipline Labor

<div data-block="true" data-editor="302qc" data-offset-key= "jcl-0-0"> <div data-offset-key="jcl-0-0">"Elon Musk sent a thank-you note to Tesla's workers returning to work," Business Insider squeals. Walmart teams up with UPS to air an ad "thanking essential workers." "Jeff Bezos Just Posted an Open Letter to Amazon Employees About the Coronavirus. Every Smart Business Leader Needs to Read It," insists an article in Inc.</div> </div> <div data-block="true" data-editor="302qc" data-offset-key= "ei4ea-0-0"> <div data-offset-key="ei4ea-0-0"> </div> <div data-offset-key="ei4ea-0-0">Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, corporate leaders, politicians and celebrities have been quick to paint "essential workers," and those often described as "frontline" workers, as heroes — laborers conscripted, presumably against their will, into a wartime-like scenario of heroism and sacrifice as our country battles the ongoing coronavirus scourge.</div> <div data-offset-key="ei4ea-0-0"> </div> </div> <div data-block="true" data-editor="302qc" data-offset-key= "7f292-0-0"> <div data-offset-key="7f292-0-0">The sentiment behind this rhetoric is understandable, especially from everyday people simply trying to express their deep appreciation for the underpaid labor doing the work to feed, house, care for and treat everyone else. But when deployed by powerful politicians and CEOs, the "essential workers as heroes" discourse serves a more sinister purpose: to curb efforts to unionize, preemptively justify mass death of a largely black and brown workforce, protect corporate profits and ultimately discipline labor that for a brief moment in spring of last year, had unprecedented leverage to extract concessions from capital.</div> <div data-offset-key="7f292-0-0"> </div> </div> <div data-block="true" data-editor="302qc" data-offset-key= "cq4si-0-0"> <div data-offset-key="cq4si-0-0">As Wall Street booms and America’s billionaires see an increase of $1.1 trillion in wealth since March 2020 — a 40% increase — while the average worker suffers from une