Women, minorities shoulder front-line work
NEW YORK — As America tentatively emerges from weeks of lockdowns, it is becoming clear that the pandemic has taken its toll on workers who have been on the front lines all along.
They have been packing and delivering supplies, caring for the sick and elderly, and keeping streets and buildings clean.
They have also watched their co-workers fall ill. Thousands have gotten sick themselves. Many have died.
The burden has been borne unevenly across gender, racial and socioeconomic lines, according to an Associated Press analysis of census data in the country's 100 largest cities. They are mostly women, people of color and more likely to be immigrants.
A look at these workers:
THE WAREHOUSE WORKER
Born homeless in New York City, Courtenay Brown is no stranger to hardship.
She and her youngest sister both work at an Amazon Fresh warehouse in New Jersey and share an apartment in Newark with six cats and a turtle. The sisters fought for their stable life, at one point living in Brown's car for weeks until they saved enough for a security deposit and first month's rent.
When the pandemic took hold, Brown plunged into her job as a supervisor in the loading dock to get the $2 hourly pay bump and double overtime. Soon, several of her co-workers became infected. Others, she said, didn't show up.
More than 60% of warehouse and delivery workers in most cities are people of color, a figure that rises to more than 95% in Newark.
One tough day, Brown pleaded with a co-worker to come back to work for a day. The next day, exhausted and limping because of tendinitis, Brown couldn't bear to come in herself. Her phone rang repeatedly that morning. She threw it across the room.
“I thought, `this just isn't worth it,'” she said.
THE GROCERY STORE WORKER
Jane St. Louis knows many of her customers after 27 years at a Safe way in Damascus, Maryland. Some have brought her cookies. Others have taken out their own fears of the virus on her, including one woman who yelled at her for not wearing gloves.
Grocery employees have been among the most visible of America's front-line workers as people rush to stock up on essentials. Nationwide, they are among the more diverse of frontline workers, split evenly between men and women. In most cities, more than 40% are white, 15% are black and 14% are Hispanic. At least 16% live below the federal poverty line and 15% lack health insurance.