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When it came to work and the pandemic, you could say that I led the way. By the time it struck, I had left my job as an editor in publishing and had been working at home for decades. I was, in that sense, a remote worker long before Zoom made working from home a potential reality of everyday life. Mind you, in those pre-pandemic years, I was also toiling alone in my little home office in an America working its way toward Gilded Age-levels of inequality, the collapse of the union movement, and as TomDispatch regular Rebecca Gordon makes all too clear today the institution in so many jobs of hellish working hours and conditions.
And yes, the pandemic has been a veritable godsend for billionaires who've made money in such a stunning fashion while it killed millions (and then taken off for outer space to spend it). Still, on the rare bright side in these nearly two pandemic years, fear of that disease and of labor that endangered workers because of it in jobs ranging from meat packing to truck driving once considered high-paying blue-collar work but now a nightmare of low wages and poor conditions and short 80,000 drivers this Covid-19 Christmas season! led staggering millions to voluntarily quit their jobs in what's been called "the Great Resignation." That, in turn, opened the way for a revived union movement, rising labor militancy, the recent month of "Striketober," and potentially better pay and working conditions.
In other words, it's just possible that, on the other side of the pandemic (if such a side even exists), could lie a better working America in every sense of the phrase or, of course, if Donald Trump and the Republican Party have their way, it could lead to an all-too-literal hell on earth. In the meantime, consider with Gordon what it means for an American president, in this case a Democrat, to call for dock workers to go on a 24/7 schedule to ensure that Christmas presents arrive at homes on time. A Gilded Age? Not for those workers heading for the night shift, that's for sure. Tom
Supply-Chain Woes
The "Graveyard Shift" in a Pandemic World
In mid-October, President Biden announced that the Port of Los Angeles would begin operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week, joining the nearby Port of Long Beach, which had been doing so since September. The move followed weeks of White House negotiations with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, as well as shippers like UPS and FedEx, and major retailers like Walmart and Target.
The purpose of expanding port hours, according to the New York Times, was "to relieve growing backlogs in the global supply chains that deliver critical goods to the United States." Reading this, you might be forgiven for imagining that an array of crucial items like medicines or their ingredients or face masks and other personal protective equipment had been languishing in shipping containers anchored off the West Coast. You might also be forgiven for imagining that workers, too lazy for the moment at hand, had chosen a good night's sleep over the vital business of unloading such goods from boats lined up in their dozens offshore onto trucks, and getting them into the hands of the Americans desperately in need of them. Reading further, however, you'd learn that those "critical goods" are actually things like "exercise bikes, laptops, toys, [and] patio furniture."
Fair enough. After all, as my city, San Francisco, enters what's likely to be yet another almost rainless winter on a planet in ever more trouble, I can imagine my desire for patio furniture rising to a critical level. So, I'm relieved to know that dock workers will now be laboring through the night at the command of the president of the United States to guarantee that my needs are met. To be sure, shortages of at least somewhat more important items are indeed rising, including disposable diapers and the aluminum necessary for packaging some pharmaceuticals. Still, a major focus in the media has been on the specter of "slim pickings this Christmas and Hanukkah."
Providing "critical" yard furnishings is not the only reason the administration needs to unkink the supply chain. It's also considered an anti-inflation measure (if an ineffective one). At the end of October, the Consumer Price Index had jumped 6.2% over the same period in 2020, the highest inflation rate in three decades. Such a rise is often described as the result of too much money chasing too few goods. One explanation for the current rise in prices is that, during the worst months of the pandemic, many Americans actually saved money, which they're now eager to spend. When the things people want to buy are in short supply perhaps even stuck on container ships off Long Beach and Los Angeles the price of those that are available naturally rises.
Republicans have christened the current jump in the consumer price index as "Bidenflation," although the administration actually bears little responsibility for the situation. But Joe Biden and the rest of the Democrats know one thing: if it looks like they're doing nothing to bring prices down, there will be hell to pay at the polls in 2022 and so it's the night shift for dock workers and others in Los Angeles, Long Beach, and possibly other American ports.
However, running West Coast ports 24/7 won't solve the supply-chain problem, not when there aren't enough truckers to carry that critical patio furniture to Home Depot. The shortage of such drivers arises because there's more demand than ever before, and because many truckers have simply quit the industry. As the New York Times reports, "Long hours and uncomfortable working conditions are leading to a shortage of truck drivers, which has compounded shipping delays in the United States."
Rethinking (Shift) Work
Truckers aren't the only workers who have been rethinking their occupations since the coronavirus pandemic pressed the global pause button. The number of employees quitting their jobs hit 4.4 million this September, about 3% of the U.S. workforce. Resignations were highest in industries like hospitality and medicine, where employees are most at risk of Covid-19 exposure.
For the first time in many decades, workers are in the driver's seat. They can command higher wages and demand better working conditions. And that's exactly what they're doing at workplaces ranging from agricultural equipment manufacturer John Deere to breakfast-cereal makers Kellogg and Nabisco. I've even been witnessing it in my personal labor niche, part-time university faculty members (of which I'm one). So allow me to pause here for a shout-out to the 6,500 part-time professors in the University of California system: Thank you! Your threat of a two-day strike won a new contract with a 30% pay raise over the next five years!
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