<
https://www.lemonde.fr/en/opinion/article/2025/03/21/essential-workers-the-forgotten-victims-of-the-covid-19-crisis_6739390_23.html>
'Nothing can ever be the same again – is what we might have been tempted to
think, in the shock and general state of anxiety caused by the Covid-19
pandemic. Five years after the start of the lockdown that brought France to a
standstill on March 17, 2020, the memory of this naive sentiment, buoyed by the
hope of escaping a nightmare, is tinged with bitterness. If the world is no
longer "the same," it's certainly no better. Society is not done analyzing and
attempting to repair the damage caused by repeated lockdowns, the economic and
budgetary decisions imposed by Covid and the suspicion cast on scientists and
politicians. Even the promise, which seemed within reach, of progress toward
resolving crucial social problems revealed by the pandemic remains to be
fulfilled.
Such is the case of "second-line workers," those "women and men whom our
economies recognize and pay so poorly," but on whom "our country depends
entirely," in the words of President Emmanuel Macron, in his April 13, 2020,
address. "We'll have to remember [them]," Macron said at the time. Those were
the days when the French people opened their windows at 8 pm to applaud
hospital workers and looked on as heroes to the supermarket cashiers and
delivery drivers.
Covid was an eye-opener on the situation of these indispensable but poorly-paid
workers, whose tasks are often arduous, incompatible with remote work, with
impossible working hours and little prospect of advancement, and who are
exposed to contamination. No one can ignore the enormity of the paradox between
the recognition of the essential nature of their contribution to society and
the contempt with which society holds them in terms of pay, status and working
conditions.'
Via Violet Blue’s
Threat Model - Covid: March 27, 2025
https://www.patreon.com/posts/covid-march-27-125269295
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
