Frontline Workers Are Done

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – For 2 years now, major retailers have decided to shut their doors on Thanksgiving Day. You know, the way things used to be before Y2K. Major retailers like Target and Walmart in addition to local malls closed on Thanksgiving without any negative financial consequences. In fact according to MasterCard SpendingPulse, Black Friday sales were up 30% with 6 hours left in the business day.

For the first time since 2017, the year Trump took office, retailers will open more stores than they will close. In the age of Twitter and TikTok, Millennials and Gen Z’ers are fully aware of these trends. In order to please greedy shareholders, retailers openly bragged about their quarterly profits in the Wall Street Journal and the the New York Times. But now they’ve taken their 10-figure profit news to Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat. These platforms have an entirely different audience that consumes information through a different lens.

During the height of the pandemic, fast-food, retail, and frontline workers were told their jobs were essential. What we found is that these jobs were essential to the profits of billionaires. And frontline workers are done. They say enough is enough. As one 21-year-old Walmart cashier put it,

We done playing with y’all. Pay me what I’m worth!

Frontline Workers Quit

Workers are done playing games with billionaire CEOs bragging about their record breaking quarterly profits on the backs of their employees. Women have suffered the most of all demographics. Black, brown, indigenous, and lower middle class white women exited the job market in record numbers. Why? Childcare.

Why spend 30% of your income on childcare?

One mother asked: Why am I working 40+ hours a week just to hand my children off to a stranger for 9 hours a day? To that question We Make Florida says, “All issues are political.” We can’t afford to ignore politics. Corrupt politicians want to distract us by equating affordable childcare to socialism and livable wages to communism. They do this because they know that when we have control over our economic freedom, we get to make the choices that are best for our families and our wellbeing. Voters under40 are hip to this played out game. We can elect candidates that prioritize our wallets above the stocks of billionaire CEOs and leaders that value our health over quarterly profits.