© Reuters / Mike SegarDelivery workers wait to be summoned in otherwise-shut-down midtown Manhattan
Coronavirus has exposed stark divides in US society as the wealthy hole up in their homes and the poor are reduced to delivering their supplies in often-unsafe conditions. With mass layoffs underway, is class war imminent?
Coronavirus untouchablesNew York warehouse workers at
FreshDirect and Amazon - the two e-commerce giants emerging as the economic winners in the coronavirus epidemic for their near-monopoly on groceries and, well, everything else - tested positive for coronavirus last week, bringing into sharp focus the high-risk nature of their jobs. Along with
gig economy workers - rideshare drivers, couriers, and food-service delivery people - and grocery clerks, the warehouse employees handling the surge in deliveries to pandemic shut-ins represent the "have-nots" of the new coronavirus caste system.
No job security, scant health insurance, and high likelihood of exposure to the virus - these jobs don't come with much to recommend them, but employers can squash any rebellion by dropping a hint that workers are lucky to have a job at all.
With so many newly-unemployed ex-bartenders, ex-waiters, and ex-retail workers trying to sign up for benefits that state websites are crashing, no one wants to join the ranks of the newly jobless - ranks that the Trump administration hinted earlier this week could swell to 20 percent of the labor force by the time the pandemic subsides.
Comment: If she had it all. It could also be that Greta has been missing the spotlight in recent months and needed to find a way to make herself relevant again.
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