Share
Subscribe

From climate change to land rights - the best stories, the biggest ideas, the arguments that matter.

Sign up to our weekly email

With businesses closed and coronavirus infections rising, former Californian hotel worker Walter Almendarez said he had no choice but to dig into his savings and go to a food bank for the first time in his life to feed his family.

Uber driver Ali Mohammadzai now waits hours for passengers at Reagan International Airport in Washington D.C., with fewer people travelling and greater competition as laid-off workers  resort to ride-hailing or food-delivery apps to make a living.

Meanwhile in Treme in New Orleans, the oldest Black neighborhood in America, restaurateur Wayne Baquet, 73, has closed Lil' Dizzy's Cafe, seeing customer numbers plummet and deciding it was not worth risking his health to stay open.

banner
Wayne Baquet (left), owner of Lil Dizzy’s Cafe, poses for a photograph with his nephew Jordan Roussel (right), New Orleans, USA, August 13, 2020. L. Kasimu Harris/Thomson Reuters Foundation

Seven months after COVID-19 hit, only half of the jobs lost during the crisis have been recovered, leaving 12.6 million Americans jobless - compared to 5.8 million in February - as the nation heads into the Nov. 3 presidential election.

The pandemic has exposed a reality that U.S. workers have long confronted - labor laws are failing to protect people in a system with low union membership and growing workplace safety concerns - and low-wage workers, disproportionately women and Black, are largely bearing the costs.

"American workers have very few protections when compared to most other advanced democracies, and the pandemic has made that very, very clear with often tragic consequences," said David Madland, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, a policy institute where he researches labor and economic policy.

"Unfortunately the Trump administration, especially in their response to the COVID pandemic, exacerbated those long-standing problems," he said, noting the failure to impose national safety standards to protect workers against the virus.

Steven Elloie, owner of Sportsman’s Corner, poses for a photograph in his bar, New Orleans, USA, August 15, 2020. L. Kasimu Harris/Thomson Reuters Foundation

With balloting underway, labor campaigners have actively encouraged American workers to vote, now that they have seen that stop-gap measures to confront COVID-19 have fallen short and government aid to help with job losses is exhausted.

"Little did I realize that this is a journey," said Cassandra Brooks, who runs Little Believer's childcare centers outside Raleigh, North Carolina, where enrolment plunged as people kept their children home.

"This isn't going to let up anytime soon," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

banner
Cassandra Brooks, owner of Little Believer’s Academy II in Garner, North Carolina, August 19, 2020, has struggled to keep her two daycare centres running, with numbers down by almost two-thirds since the outbreak of coronavirus. THOMSON REUTERS FOUNDATION/Lynsey Weatherspoon

While U.S. states have reopened to business, some with more hesitation and safeguards than others, COVID-19 cases are rising, with the United States recording the most cases and deaths globally with 225,000 lives lost and 8.7 million cases.

A total of 32 of 50 states have entered a danger zone with more than 100 new cases per 100,000 residents in the past week, and a national average of 120 cases per 100,000 people - its highest since a peak in July - according to Reuters analysis.

Meanwhile, the number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits hit a two-month high last week, stoking fears the pandemic was inflicting lasting damage to the labor market.

First-time claims remain well above their 665,000 peak during the 2007-09 Great Recession, though below a record 6.9 million in March, with certain groups harder hit.

The unemployment rate for white people was 7% in September, for Black Americans it was 12.1% and for Latinos it was 10.3%. The teenage unemployment rate was 15.9%.

banner
Akil Mitchell and his son, Akil Mitchell II inside of Ego’s Gentlemen’s Spa, where the father is a co-owner, in New Orleans, USA, August 20, 2020. Thomson Reuters Foundation / L. Kasimu Harris

Many of those without jobs are joining the growing U.S. army of gig workers - independent contractors who perform on-demand services such as driving and delivering groceries.

But for many, it's the uncertainty that is making life hard. No one knows for sure when there will be a vaccine widely shared enough to return to work and travel safely.

That translates to uncertainty about jobs like gig work, said Tyrita Franklin-Corbett, who was furloughed from her job as an auditor at a public accounting firm in May.

Tyrita Franklin-Corbett loads groceries into her car at a local grocery store as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues, in District Heights, Maryland, U.S. October 6, 2020. THOMSON REUTERS FOUNDATION/ Michael A. McCoy

The single mother of a 12-year-old son from Upper Marlboro, Maryland, is a "shopper" for the online grocery pick-up and delivery service Instacart but said the app-based work has wild swings in earnings and no health insurance or sick pay.

"It's a gig, not a career," she said. "I don't think it's a feasible way to make a living, especially if you have children."

Uber and Lyft driver Mohammadzai calls on his faith as ride-hailing services take a steep hit.

"What can we do? We have to stay cool and pray and wish this pandemic to end," he said while waiting for a fare.

banner
Ali Mohammadzai sits inside of his vehicle in frustration as he waits in the Ronald Regan National Airport ride share parking lot for a new customer in Arlington, Virginia, U.S., October 6, 2020. Since the pandemic drivers often wait hours at a time as less travelers use ride share services as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues. Thomson Reuters Foundation/ Michael A. McCoy

Schools around the country have grappled with whether to bring children back on site or keep them learning remotely, and often are doing a combination of both.

"I've come to learn that there will always be some level of uncertainty," said Josh Tinsley, a high school English teacher and board member of the Transylvania County Association of Educators, a teachers' organization in western North Carolina.

The district reopened schools with in-person teaching with social distancing, staggered attendance and a slate of health precautions.

"I don't necessarily fear for myself, and it's not that I don't believe I won't get it, but in regards to students I have real concern about the impact on them and the impact on their families," the high school teacher said.

banner
Eliza Grow, aged eight, sits in front of her laptop and desk to prepare for virtual classes from her home in Durham, North Carolina, expecting that lessons will be held online for at least the first nine weeks of the academic year. August 16, 2020. THOMSON REUTERS FOUNDATION/Lynsey Weatherspoon

Almendarez lost his hotel job at Hollywood's Chateau Marmont, a celebrity haunt where he worked for 23 years, and has been using savings, cutting costs and going to food banks.

"You do what you have to do," he said.

He became an advocate for "right of recall" and "right of retention" laws that would require owners to hire back former staff and not replace them with less experienced, cheaper staff.

One such law was passed by the California legislature but was vetoed by the governor, who deemed it onerous on employers.

banner
Walter Almendarez lost his job as a bellman at Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles, one of thousands of hotel workers let go during the pandemic. September 9, 2020. Thomson Reuters Foundation/L. Kasimu Harris

California has taken other steps to safeguard workers hit by the economic fallout of COVID-19, including passing a measure making it easier for workers infected on the job to get benefits and forcing businesses to report infections at work sites.

But a California voter initiative on the November ballot would, if passed, overturn a law that took effect this year reclassifying app-based workers as employees entitled to benefits like unemployment insurance and minimum wage.

Uber, Lyft and DoorDash spent more than $100 million on a campaign to overturn the law, AB5, the first of its kind in the nation, saying people need and want flexible, independent work.

A Uber driver waits in frustration at the Ronald Regan National Airport ride share parking lot for a new customer. Since the pandemic drivers often wait hours at a time as less travelers use ride share services as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues, in Arlington, Virginia , U.S. October 6, 2020. THOMSON REUTERS FOUNDATION/ Michael A. McCoy

Madland, however, said the shift towards more contract work was making increasing numbers of workers vulnerable.

"The weak standards that we have, they don't apply to many workers, gig workers, farmworkers, domestic workers," he said.

The left-leaning Economic Policy Institute said workplace democracy and ability of working people to unionize was key to protect their rights.

About 10.3% of U.S. workers were union members in 2019 compared with 20.1% in 1983, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

"As union membership has declined, policies that serve working people have lost out to policies supporting corporate interests," the institute said in a report this month.

banner
Elizabeth Mejia and her two young daughters hold chickens that the family bought as a source of eggs after Mejia was laid-off at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, in South Central Los Angeles. September 10, 2020. Thomson Reuters Foundation/L. Kasimu Harris

For many workers, it's love and faith keeping them going, along with masks, gloves and other protective personal equipment, amid concerns over weakened worker protections.

More than 1,700 health care workers have died  from COVID-19 in the United States, according to figures released in September by the National Nurses United which accused state and federal governments of failing to adequately protect workers.

banner
Care worker Elonda English stands outside of her home for a portrait, in Orlando, USA, on August 4, 2020. Thomson Reuters Foundation/Lynsey Weatherspoon

"It's only the residents that make us feel appreciated," said Laura Gee, 65, one of tens of thousands of certified nursing assistants who care for elderly patients in Florida.

"I'm there for my residents and that's how I keep going," said Gee, who works at the Rosewood Health and Rehabilitation Center on the outskirts of Orlando.

"I'm not there to please the administration, the nurses, or the head honchos. I'm there to take care of my residents, to make sure they're clean and happy and to give them love."

Care worker Elonda English walks into her job at Lake Mary Health and Rehabilitation Center in Lake Mary, Florida on August 4, 2020. Thomson Reuters Foundation/Lynsey Weatherspoon

Photography byL. Kasimu Harris

More from Ellen Wulfhorst

--> Update cookies preferences