A new congressional report was released analyzing the structural inequalities present during the COVID-19 pandemic. More specifically, the report shows that racism is alive and well in the workplace and in who is afforded economic grace at times of hardship.
The report’s investigation was conducted by the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis and focused on twelve private-sector companies: “AT&T, Berkshire Hathaway, Boeing, Chevron, Cisco, Citigroup, Comcast, ExxonMobil, Oracle, Salesforce, Walmart, and the Walt Disney Company.” The investigation was begun after reports that these businesses had laid off more than 1,000 workers during the pandemic. The Subcommittee wanted to see how these layoffs were distributed and whether or not there were demographic inequalities that needed to be both highlighted and fixed.
Spoiler alert: The country is still super racist and sexist, and the dispassionate big business world is equally racist and sexist.
Here are some of the investigation’s findings:
Who were the biggest offenders?
Walmart has 1.6 million workers in the United States. Black workers make up just over a fifth of that number. It is also important to remember that Walmart, which has “improved” its “diversity” in higher positions in the company since 2004, is still a hot mess of crap. In 2021, “white men held 51.2% of Walmart’s executive posts despite making up just 33.7% of the U.S. labor force and only 24.5% of all Walmart employees.”
Walmart has long been known to run its business the very old-fashioned way—profiting off of the cheapest labor possible. Even worse, the presence of Walmart as an employer in areas decreased the standard of living for the people now employed at Walmart in those areas. It is also not particularly great for the Black employees who aren’t scraping by on subsistence wages. As Bloomberg News reported last year, high-ranking Black managers at the mega-retail business gave the company mediocre ratings when it came to career advancement.
Want to make Donald Trump cry? Daily Kos will defeat MAGA candidates everywhere, and we can't wait to make Herschel Walker lose. Donate $5 today.
However you can help Raphael Warnock to win the Georgia runoff, we need you today. Check out our Daily Kos GOTV Page, and get plugged into a volunteer activity now.
We're now in the third week of election overtime and there is still tons more great news for Democrats to exult over on this week's episode of The Downballot.
Embedded Content
The report’s investigation was conducted by the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis and focused on twelve private-sector companies: “AT&T, Berkshire Hathaway, Boeing, Chevron, Cisco, Citigroup, Comcast, ExxonMobil, Oracle, Salesforce, Walmart, and the Walt Disney Company.” The investigation was begun after reports that these businesses had laid off more than 1,000 workers during the pandemic. The Subcommittee wanted to see how these layoffs were distributed and whether or not there were demographic inequalities that needed to be both highlighted and fixed.
Spoiler alert: The country is still super racist and sexist, and the dispassionate big business world is equally racist and sexist.
Here are some of the investigation’s findings:
- “In 2020, Black hourly workers at Walmart were fired twice as frequently as white hourly workers (19.7% vs. 10.4%), three times as frequently as Black salaried workers (19.7% vs. 6.3%), and five times as frequently as white salaried workers (19.7% vs. 4.0%).”
- Workers without sick leave left their employment at far higher rates than those who did have paid sick leave. “28.8% of male hourly workers and 35.5% of female hourly workers without access to paid sick leave quit, compared to just 10.2% of male hourly workers and 12.4% of female hourly workers with access to paid sick leave.”
- Workers who did take paid sick leave received raises at a higher rate than workers who didn’t take sick leave. Think about that.
- While workers aged 50 or older quit, resigned, or retired at lower rates than younger workers, they were fired at “double, triple, or even quintuple the rate of younger workers, and with younger workers quitting, resigning, or retiring at double or triple the rate of older workers.”
Who were the biggest offenders?
Walmart has 1.6 million workers in the United States. Black workers make up just over a fifth of that number. It is also important to remember that Walmart, which has “improved” its “diversity” in higher positions in the company since 2004, is still a hot mess of crap. In 2021, “white men held 51.2% of Walmart’s executive posts despite making up just 33.7% of the U.S. labor force and only 24.5% of all Walmart employees.”
Walmart has long been known to run its business the very old-fashioned way—profiting off of the cheapest labor possible. Even worse, the presence of Walmart as an employer in areas decreased the standard of living for the people now employed at Walmart in those areas. It is also not particularly great for the Black employees who aren’t scraping by on subsistence wages. As Bloomberg News reported last year, high-ranking Black managers at the mega-retail business gave the company mediocre ratings when it came to career advancement.
Want to make Donald Trump cry? Daily Kos will defeat MAGA candidates everywhere, and we can't wait to make Herschel Walker lose. Donate $5 today.
However you can help Raphael Warnock to win the Georgia runoff, we need you today. Check out our Daily Kos GOTV Page, and get plugged into a volunteer activity now.
We're now in the third week of election overtime and there is still tons more great news for Democrats to exult over on this week's episode of The Downballot.
Embedded Content