Mar 30, 2020
When Illinois Governor J. B. Pritzker announced his “stay-at-home” order, he said that “essential services will not close.” He specifically mentioned grocery stores, pharmacies and gas stations.
The workers who make these services run make sure we can get the food, medicine, and fuel we need, at great risk to themselves and their families. Yet these essential workers are some of the lowest paid.
In this crisis, these workers have shown their importance—and their potential power. Society would grind to a halt without their work. There’s no reason for these “essential” workers to accept poverty wages.