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This week on CounterSpin: The Wall Street Journal called frontline workers like grocery store employees and food deliverers “unexpected heroes” of the Covid-19 pandemic, which should prompt the question: Unexpected to whom? The truth is the US has always relied on low-paid, unprotected workers for all kinds of services, only now it’s called a “gig economy” and celebrated by some as some radical way forward, offering workers “flexibility” and a chance to “be your own boss.” Strikes going on around the country right now are an indication of how workers themselves are reacting to this moment, in which it’s being made painfully clear that they are deemed both essential and expendable at once.
We’ll talk about the gig economy with Bama Athreya, economic inequality fellow with the Open Society Foundations.
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Transcript: ‘The Gig Economy Is Really Just Pushing People Into Precarious Work’
Plus Janine Jackson takes a quick look back at recent coverage of voter protection, AP‘s coronavirus boilerplate and retail anti-heroes.
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