Have you recently dined at a restaurant and found yourself feeling sick the next day? It may not be psychological or even a reaction to MSG! It could be something more serious – and more ethical. How about when you’ve eaten an apple or a raw carrot, and a day or two after developing an upset stomach or flu-like symptoms? No, it may not have been your imagination.
As it turns out, half of all food workers who were recently polled (October 2015) by the food industry market research group “Alchemy” admitting to working while sick. These are food workers who touch or breathe on our food at every level of its preparation; those who may grow it; those who process it or cook it or service it. What is even more disconcerting is that of the remaining 50 percent, 38 percent of them say that will go to work “sometimes” when they are sick.
The “irony”
The survey also found that of the 1,200 polled, 90 percent of those workers polled, from farmers to wait staff feel responsible for your safety and well-being whenever or wherever you buy and consume food. “But,” and it’s a big word, 45 percent of those hard-working folks say they still come to work when they are sick because they can’t afford to lose wages. It’s an irony and also a lousy decision for anyone to have to make.
In a study quoted by Fox News on October 21, 2015 in relationship to this survey we have to add another serious wrinkle:
“According to a 2012 study the Food Chain Workers Alliance and the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, 79 percent of those employed in the food industry do not have paid sick days or did not know whether they did.”
The National Restaurant Association (naturally) disputes this in principle by saying that restaurants will make accommodations with workers schedules so that sick employees can cover for one another. I get that – in principle as well.
When was the last time you came down with a bad cold or the flu? Unless you know about a miracle cure, how many times have you been ill and had the sickness goes completely away after just one day or one shift? It doesn’t, and no matter the position of the food industry in many situations sick workers are tacitly expected to show up for work and to deal with it.
No one likes to talk about higher food prices. Look at all of the hullabaloo whenever we discuss the topic of minimum wage for fast food workers. I will put that aside for now, but what about better health benefits? I am not trying to ignite a political debate, but an ethical one.
If you work for a low wage as a contract worker or a wait person at any level of the food industry, and you get sick should you be able to take a sick day, get compensated for it, and not fear for losing your job? The naysayer’s will often tell us that it is a bad idea because it may result in higher food prices. I often find it disconcerting when I hear that argument because it is invariably raised by someone with a six-figure income and excellent health benefits!
Dialog needed
For my part, I think a serious ethical dialog needs to be taking place completely separate from any minimum wage argument. What do we, as consumers of food, owe the people who produce that food and serve it? If the answer is “nothing,” who then is responsible? Are we willing to pay more for a product to allow workers the basic right to take the time to get better?
We may be cavalier in our attitude and say that this is a free market economy and people are more than welcomed to change jobs and seek better opportunities. If they get sick and have to work in order to keep their jobs, so what? They can always go elsewhere.
Yet, I have met few people who, deep down inside, believe that.
Imagine, for example you daughter is going to college in another state and she waits tables to make extra income. She comes down with the flu, develops a 102° fever and must miss a few days. She gets fired. Is that acceptable?
How about a man who works three jobs to keep his family “afloat?” He works in a packing house as a contract meat handler. One evening he gets sick and rather than telling his boss for fear of getting fired, he continues working. He eventually gets better but 125 consumers get sick because of his fears. Is that acceptable?
It is time for ethical conversation throughout the food industry in regard to contract labor from the guys who pick grapes to the wait person who serves our omelets. Does a person have the right to get sick?
YOUR COMMENTS ARE WELCOME!
