Texas Attacks Paid Sick Leave During Pandemic
As reported in the Texas Tribune, the Texas Senate is considering a bill that would prevent cities and counties from enacting paid sick leave ordinances. Republican politicians that run on small government and local control, as usual, have no qualms about violating that “principle” of theirs when it interferes with big business. Like when Denton county decided to ban fracking, the state quickly put a stop to that type of local control. Now that Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio require paid sick leave, big government is coming to put a stop to it.
You see, they really know what’s best for us, y’all. The Tribune article quotes a “CEO” of a company that runs Auntie Anne Pretzels and Cinnabon franchises in Texas. According to her, offering her food-service workers paid sick leave would be terrible for them, because if she had to pay sick leave, she couldn’t offer them 401K’s. Which is funny, because the stores owned by her company don’t offer 401k’s at all. Or maternity leave. Or any benefits. As usual, they’re just anti-worker and full of shit. They would rather the employees serve covid pretzels than pay a part-time employee $7.25 an hour for a four-hour shift while they rest and recover.
This is all public information based on employee reviews from Glassdoor and Indeed, by the way.
Employees of these mall stands make minimum wage. They work with food. They do not have health insurance and I imagine they’d have to work 15-20 hours to afford one cash pay doctor’s visit, not including prescriptions. These people have absolutely nothing, and their boss is fighting against offering them sick pay. I hate humanity.
In a pandemic, when we are all told to stay home if we are sick, Texas Republicans want to make sure that we are not guaranteed sick leave. It’s for our own good, really.
i am surprised that we haven’t heard “why not bring back slavery?” …
1A couple of years ago I missed the last six or seven weeks of school. I had a massive infection in my foot that was brought on by previously undiagnosed diabetes. Thankfully, 20+ years of teaching had built up enough sick leave where I didn’t miss a beat as far as that was concerned. What is unconciousable are how many people are within one health emergency away from financial ruin.
I even had a conservative friend chime in on that. They may not be on board with free tuition or universal health care, but they may be on board with forgiving health care debt. Either way, the greed is overwhelming.
2And yet, in Texas at least, people can’t make it to the polls to vote GOPers out. The whole reason they are making it so hard to vote in 2022 is that is when state positions are over. How bad do you want to get rid of them?
3As usual, the solution is voting.
It’s on us.
Always has been.
4I’ll pay $0.25 more for my pizza or coney or whatever if it means the delivery guy or the server isn’t feeling compelled to work and cough or sneeze all over my meal. Honest!
Hell, I’ll up that to a buck if it means they get health insurance and a living wage in the deal.
Having said that, I remember one year one of the managers where I worked showed up the day before Christmas break looking like death warmed over. Seems he was perpetually afraid that if he took a day off and the department didn’t collapse he would be laid off because he wasn’t needed. So yep, I drove to visit my parents for the holiday the next day and in a day or so was in bed looking like death warmed over. So you can pay people decent bucks, give them health coverage and sick days, and it doesn’t mean they’ll take advantage.
5We’ve got to find a way to make these people experience some of what they inflict on others. I don’t know how, within the law, to do that…can we shame them by calling them [redacted] cowardy custards with girl parts, if they don’t take a dare that after x days in the trenches they’ll change their minds? Because generally experience teaches more than hearing about someone else’s, for people fundamentally incapable of compassion or empathy.
They have to go into a guarded area, and they have their goodies taken away. And then they work, real work, at whatever wage that work usually gets. Sick or well, tired, sleeping just like the typical low wage worker. Have to live on their pay–no plastic assistance–eating whatever food’s available. Sixty days ought to convince enough of ’em to change the voting patterns.
6*Perhaps* if politicians had to pay for their groceries out of their own money instead of using their expense accounts ………
7Name your best rePUKEian supporter of welfare for those who REALLY need it, not corporations???
8Posts like this should always include a photo of the CEO/business owner and a photo of their home! A little public shame never hurt anyone except the person being shamed!
9The Rethug politicians know that their slobbering MAGAot hordes really are uber-stupid [especially our Texass ones, who still outvote the Dems every time].
A prime example below of a transplanted yankee who has ingratiated himself into the Texass MAGAots. Nuge asks plaintively why the country didn’t quarantine down for COVID 1-18… And the Trumpanzees just lap it up.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/4/14/2025884/-Yes-People-He-s-That-Stupid-Ted-Nugent-Asks-Why-Weren-t-We-Shut-Down-For-Covid-One-Through-18
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10In other good news, $65Bil fraudster Bernie Madoff is deaddeaddead, hoorah!