Some workers, particularly Latino ones, have never had the luxury of sheltering in place during the coronavirus outbreak. The country’s millions of fast food employees can’t continue to ensure pizzas, pasta and salads make it to their destinations, guaranteeing that both their customers and their families are fed, by working from home. These essential workers — most making minimum wage without health benefits — have to fight for basic safeguards from the virus while their employers rake in profits.
For one group of Domino’s employees in Southern California, the only option was to strike. After a colleague came down with Covid-19, they stopped working and insisted on protective gear, hazard and quarantine pay, reimbursements, their store being deep cleaned and being informed when co-workers are sick. In a rare labor success story, on May Day they won enough of these concessions from their Domino’s franchise to return to work.
This victory is the exception, not the rule. Workers around the country are still fighting for proper safety equipment, cleaning supplies and sick pay — even as they continue to feed millions of Americans each day.