stop with the “unemployment benefits are too good and that’s why people aren’t going back to work.”

the issue is wages are bad and returning to work is still not safe enough to justify heading back to possibly die while getting treated like dog shit.

this bullshit narrative that poor people are inherently lazy and just want to milk the government teat has existed for decades. poor people work more jobs that are way harder for way less money than those who can work from home. because we don’t have a choice.

i didn’t receive income for two months because i recognized it had become way too unsafe for me to go to work. i was willing to lose everything to avoid my job killing me.

i stopped going to work in mid march and didn’t receive pandemic assistance until may. i made that choice — to go without money entirely! — to preserve my life.

if you want people to return to work, MAKE IT SAFE ENOUGH TO DO SO. the internal debate workers are having isn’t about giving up extra income — though it has allowed me to get my head above water. it’s “do i stay home or die?” they’ll go back when that’s no longer the case.

the fact that the narrative continues to center on how it’s ~too cushy to give up~ just shows how few people telling these stories HAVE NEVER EXPERIENCED PRECARITY.

for the record, i would lose $300/week if i returned to work full time. i would be able to pay my bills, rent, & transit and have a relatively stable life because i know how to survive on low wages.
i am not going back to work because the daily case counts are still far too high.

my job is in a basement with recycled air surrounded by upwards of 120 people at any given time without the ability to social distance. that is not a safe environment until daily case counts hit below 30.