吃瓜大本营

Six months into the COVID-19 pandemic, it鈥檚 clear that among those suffering the most are those who typically get paid the least: the 鈥渆ssential workers鈥� who ,,,, and necessary for these and other frontline workers to get to their jobs.

These mostly Black and Latinx workers, also , already live in a state of economic precariousness. For months now, they have been asked to literally risk their lives for their paychecks. In this way, the pandemic has further exposed and deepened our nation鈥檚 fault lines of racial and gender inequality.

Among the frontline workers in harm鈥檚 way are the nearly 1 million people who continue to serve up Egg McMuffins, Big Macs, and fries at the nation鈥檚 14,000 McDonald鈥檚 restaurants. Despite the company鈥檚 vast resources 鈥� it has already paid nearly to shareholders since the pandemic began 鈥� McDonald鈥檚 has rewarded the sacrifices of its low-wage cashiers and cooks with and 鈥� when they and their loved ones get sick 鈥� refusal to grant job-protected, paid time off to stay home.

The U.S. enjoys the shameful distinction of being the only country in the developed world that doesn鈥檛 guarantee paid sick and family leave to workers. We have no choice, then, but to rely on employers to fill the void 鈥� yet they have doggedly resisted doing so. of the private workforce 鈥� more than 33 million people 鈥� are afforded no paid sick time to care for themselves, while more than have no access to paid leave to care for a family member.听

These numbers are shocking enough, but because they are averages, they obscure an even uglier truth: Paid sick and family leave is nearly universal among higher-paid, professional workers. These workers are more likely to be white and are the same workers who, during this crisis, are most able to work from the snug safety of their homes. Among the lowest-paid quarter of the workforce, the majority of whom are Black and Latinx workers, , and . In short, low-wage workers 鈥� far more likely to be people of color relegated to these occupations due to historic discrimination 鈥� are often the ones who lack paid sick and family leave, yet need it the most.听

Under normal circumstances, such figures reflect grave racial, gender, and economic inequalities. In the time of COVID-19, though, the lack of paid sick and family leave is also a matter of life and death. Without a paycheck during a needed absence from work, low-wage workers are forced to choose between earning critical income or taking care of themselves or loved ones at home who are sick.听

During the COVID-19 crisis, lack of access to paid family leave inflicts on women. Women comprise of the nation鈥檚 family caregivers, so when a family member falls ill, it is overwhelmingly women who will stay home with them. And because households of color are , with both young children and elderly relatives at home and in need of care, this caregiving burden falls especially heavily on Black and Latinx women.听听
Without paid, job-protected family leave at work, those women will lose income or be pushed out of the labor force altogether. Such losses have catastrophic economic consequences, given that have a woman as the sole or primary breadwinner, a figure that is even higher in families of color. Women鈥檚 exit from work to perform unpaid family caregiving also helps sustain and handicaps them in achieving the footholds necessary for on-the-job advancement. Such in addition to assuring women鈥檚 continued segregation in lower-status roles and lower-wage fields, are key drivers of the gender and racial wage gap. The is even larger for women of color 鈥� while white women make $0.79 to a white man鈥檚 dollar, Black women make $0.62 and Latina women make $0.54 to the dollar. The wage gap is a penalty that is compounded over a lifetime of work and leaves older women more likely to live in poverty when they no longer work for a wage.听

Poor health and safety protections, poverty wages, and occupational segregation all sustain the effects of historic discrimination, white supremacy, and patriarchy. The ACLU has a longstanding commitment to redressing the adverse effects of racism and sexism and other forms of invidious discrimination in American society. That includes decades long commitments to affirmative action in employment and paid leave reflected in our organization鈥檚 policies. It includes commitments to defend essential health care coverage to address 鈥渉arsh economic and social disparities that threaten our country鈥檚 democratic foundation and the cohesion of our society.鈥� Taking on McDonalds for failing to provide paid sick and family leave is just a piece of this work.

Given employers鈥� widespread failure to provide the essential benefits of paid sick and family leave, why is the ? For the same reason that we have taken on the company鈥檚 pervasive, entrenched culture of 鈥� McDonald鈥檚 status as one of the in the world and the biggest name in fast food means that how it does business affects not just the lives of its hundreds of thousands of workers, and their families and communities 鈥� it also for the entire corporate food service business. Its workforce practices hold similarly enormous capacity for modeling fairness, safety, and dignity.听
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At this historic moment, as our nation grapples with its grievous legacy of racism, it is imperative to call out policies and practices that exacerbate inequality. Challenging corporate giants like McDonald鈥檚 to protect the Black and Latinx people keeping our country moving during the COVID-19 crisis is a civil rights fight we are proud to take on.