Wisconsin Court Struck Stay-At-Home Order

15 May 2020, 11:57 AM

markj

quote:
Originally posted by Amanda:
quote:
Originally posted by markj:
My youngest quit her part time job with zero benefits, after they re-opened retail establishments to permit no more than 5 people in, masks, mandatory, and the public would have none of it.

She, along with 90% of the staff, including the manager, walked out.

I am so happy that she stood up for what she knows is right. She loves working but not enough to risk her life, or ours.

Your daughter (a dependent without her own dependents) has the option of living at home or at least, the guaranteed support of devoted and well-off parents.

That is NOT the case of most or the people affected by the caveat I highlighted.

For instance, I have one son who has been working the whole time in a large bike repair shop, and delivering food from an organic farm (both considered "essential"). The second is perhaps less high-risk, but I worry a lot about the first despite their reputed attention to sanitation.

I am not in a position to take him in (which would also involve not only his losing his relatively well-paying jobs, but moving out of his shared apartment and basically supporting him in all ways.
Note that he lives hundreds of miles from me.

(Too bad his father who could easily subsidize him iin all ways, won't - but that's a long-standing issue with many ramifications. )

IOW your daughter's situation in being able to exercise her discretion about returning to work, is one of a fortunate minority. The millions who've applied for unemployment are having much financial trouble, but at least, they are relatively "out of harm's way" and most are eligible for unemployment.

Once governors' decisions do NOT rule (to open their states up or not), everyone will be forced to return to work or be unemployed. And without the safety net she has. Technically, that would exclude those testing positive or at high risk, but with the US's inadequate testing capacity that is not a foregone conclusion.

Even if they work in meat-packing plants, apparently, if Trump has his way!

Yes, I am aware of the plight of the majority of people working such jobs just to survive. If they don't get sick that is. But her manager and other staff, who quit, do not have the security that my daughter has with us. I was trying to get her to quit her job two months ago and she would not because she didn't want to leave her manager and the other staff short of help. She has an incredible work ethic. When her manager had enough of the ignorant public, ignoring safeguards, she called an impromptu meeting to tell the staff that she was going to quit because she didn't feel safe. My daughter could have taken her job because she has the most seniority. But she felt the same way, and she and most of the staff, quit in solidarity. I could not be more proud of these people.

Trump has to go. I just wish the DNC would put up a better candidate, because I fear we are going to have another 4 years of this BS.

15 May 2020, 12:24 PM

Nina

This is such a case of the have's and the have not's. It's depressing. So many of us are inconvenienced, but continue working from home with full benefits, full pay (at least so far), and a bit of cabin fever. We are able to take in our family to help them ride out either the quarantine or unemployment, or both. For others, its' existential.

I think we're going to be in a situation where we have to lock down again (hello, Germany!) or we end up living in a society that basically says "well yeah, some people are gonna die, but don't my nails look great!"

I really think it's going to be the latter, regardless of who's elected in the fall.