August 5, 2020 Issue, Page 4 of 9

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Page 4 The Elk City News, Elk City, Oklahoma ‘Wednesday, August 5, 2020 Opinion Page Grocery workers deserve fair pay “ElkCituNews By Christy Hoffman, Tri- bune News Service week. The average wage for a nonunion grocery store ca- retail workers what they are worth. Permanently. ina time of crisis. This is not the time to Serving Western Oklahoma since 1901 Supermarket cashiers, shier in the U.S. is only $12 In Canada, Unifor has turn back the clock to pre- stockers, butchers and bak- per hour, well below a living launched a “Fair Pay For- pandemic levels of precari- Back to church: The ers all play a vital but long wage, even for a full-time ever” campaign. The Uni ous, underpaid work. We undervalued role in our food worker, ed Food and Commercial must resist employers who chain. During the pandemic, In the United States, Workers union in the United they have been on the front which is seeing rapidly ris- States is calling for a perma- are taking back hard-earned weird, comforting lines risking - and too often ing numbers of new COV- nent pay rise for these front- raises and trying to steamroll workers’ attempts to orga- losing - their lives to make ID-19 infections, more than line workers. So are other feeling of being sure that our families and communities stay fed. 40 grocery chains, including Kroger, Albertsons, Whole unions in the United King- dom, Australia and Turkey. nize for better jobs. We must show we value the critical together again in the In the United States alone, Foods and Trader Joe’s, have By making hero pay per- work that food retailers do. thousands of grocery work- put an end to hero pay. UK. manent, we acknowledge That means living wages ers have contracted COV- supermarket chain Tesco that the world of retail has and safe union jobs. COVID-19 era ID-19 and at least 70 have terminated its 10% appre- changed, and that service in- died. All over the world, ciation bonus on May 30, as dustry workers are at greater food retail workers are being COVID-19 cases continued risk, It acknowledges. that These measures will not let grocery workers live like By Mary Wisniewski, Chicago Tribune expected to work exception- to swell in that country, as their work is essential. It royalty or even supermarket T’ve been going to church again, and it’s weird. al hours and at greater risk, they do in the United States. also makes grocery work- CEOs, but they would let Not bad weird, or good weird. Just surreal weird, like a for which they have in many Apparently, grocery em- ers better able to put food on them work more safely and banana with a mustache. It’s like a lot of things during this cases received additional ployers are betting that their own tables. live like the heroes they have pandemic _ not quite good enough, but better than nothing compensation. workers will not protest too And higher wages are not proven to be. and the best we can do. It’s a little bit tiresome, and a little But, unlike the pandemic, much in face ofrising unem- all that is needed, Trade Christy Hoffman is the this seems to be coming to ployment, and that they will unions have been pushing General Secretary of UNI bit funny. an end. feel lucky just to have jobs. to secure protective equip- Global Union, which repre- Chicago’s houses of worship started opening again in Stop & Shop, a super- But workers are not barrels ment, enforce social distanc- late June, but with lots of rules to prevent the spread of the sents more than 20 million market chain in the east- of oil, with prices that fluc- ing, reasonable scheduling workers from more than 150 coronavirus. At first, only 50 people were allowed in our ern United States, ended its tuate with demand. They and protections against the different countries. This col- Roman Catholic church at a time, according to Archdiocese 10% “hero pay” bonus for should be given decent pay, growing problem of cus- of Chicago rules, and everyone had to be masked and keep its 56,000 workers in July. commensurate with their im- tomer abuse. The UFCW is umn was produced for the 6 feet of distance. But grocery store chains ev- portance. also calling for special legal Progressive Media Project, The crowd limit has since risen to 75, with the same rules erywhere are starting to take That is why unions glob- status for key U.S. workers which is run by The Progres- in place, but the numbers haven’t gone that high yet. People steps to keep workers from ally are coalescing around that would give access to sive magazine, and distribut- are nervous, or they don’t want to sit in a hot building in a getting an extra $50 orso per a simple demand: Pay food childcare and other benefits ed by Tribune News Service. Enough subsidies for electric vehicles face mask for an hour. The Sanctus, Gloria and other parts of the Mass are being spoken, not sung, by the congregation, to avoid the spread of the virus. Hymns are sung only by a cantor, with a pia- By Robert L. Bradley Jr. Today, government poli- 330,000in just five years, By age new EV loses more than nist accompanying. Americans are naturally 2040, lawmakers hope that cies have put EVs back into half of its value in just three People have to register to go to Mass, as if they were wary of electric vehicles. the market - for the elite. electric motors will power 85 years, with some losing al- Salespeople may pitch There are federal write-offs percent of light vehicles sold most 70 percent. By com- reserving a table at a chic restaurant, and get checked off battery-powered cars as of $7,500 per vehicle and or leased in the Garden State. parison, the average three- before they go in, so we know who was there and allow for the future, but most driv- 30 percent for EV refuel- That’s fantasy. Electric ve- year depreciation for all contact tracing in case someone gets sick. ers see them as an expen- ing stations. Car dealers hicles only accounted for 2 vehicles is just 38 percent. Eager for any kind of change,I signed up at my North- sive, chancy alternative to use EV credits to average percent of new vehicle sales Inexpensive gasoline and west Side parish to be one of the social distancing volun- petroleum-fueled — automo- down regular SUVs to meet nationwide in2019 even with diesel have made traditional teers who make sure everyone’s following the rules. We biles. This has been true Corporate Average Fuel a host of tax bribes. In fact, cars even more desirable. stand at the back, squirt sanitizer into cupped hands as for more than a century. Economy standards too. EV sales have stagnated; Advances in drilling and people enter the building, give masks to the maskless and Electric cars once stood on Still, range is poor and re- California, which provides other technologies were be- check off names. their own. “In the late 1890s, charging _ time-consuming the strongest incentives for hind gasoline’s drop to be- Then we go up front during Communion, to direct traffic at the dawn of the automo- for EVs, not to mention purchasing electric vehicles, low $3 a gallon. Today, regu- and spray people’s hands again with another, quick-drying bile era, steam, gasoline, and searching for scarce refuel- saw sales decline in 2019. lar unleaded averages below electric cars all competed to ing stations. And far from It should be no mystery. $2 per gallon nationally. sanitizer before they receive the Eucharist. While distrib- become the dominant auto- emission-free, EVs are While gas-powered cars uting the host, the pastor wears both a mask and a clear motive technology,” wrote “elsewhere emission” vehi- can travel up to 500 miles Post-pandemic, when oil plastic face shield, so he looks like a cross between a cleric demand returns to normal David Kirsch in The Electric cles since nearly two-thirds ona single tank, electric ve- levels, gasoline will re- and a Blackhawks goalie. Vehicle and the Burden of of US. electricity is generat- hicles get a mere 100 to 300 Churches, like grocery stores, are decorated coronavirus- History. “By the early 1900s, ed from natural gas and coal. miles per battery charge. main far below $4 a gal- style - with duct tape on the floors telling you how far to the battle was over, and inter- Throwing good money af- Winter heating and sum- lon price in the summer of stand apart, and which direction to go. In our parish, blue nal combustion was poised ter bad, states are handing mer cooling drain batter- 2008, thanks to the shale- to become the prime mover out subsidies to EV buy- ies, leading to “range anxi- oil revolution. Car emis- duct-tape arrows point you up the center aisle toward the of the twentieth century.” ers. New Jersey recently ety” wherein drivers fear sions, too, have significantly altar - and green tape marks 6-foot distances. On the side aisles, arrows made of yellow tape point you the way out. In 1896, in fact, when a instituted rebates of up to the engine might die before declined since the 1970s. young Henry Ford asked $5,000 per car. California reaching its destination. Environmentally conscious On the pews, blue tape crosses mark which pews can be regulators and prudent law- Thomas Edison about elec- offers up to $7,000 in elec- Future battery costs are used and which can’t. tricity for his horseless tric vehicle rebates, while unsettling to buyers. The makers can let Americans After Mass, more masked volunteers show up to clean carriage, Edison banged Oregon provides $2,500. Nissan Leaf, for example, buy regular cars. Taxpay- the pews where people have sat, and the door handles they the table with a “no,” cit- Will this change true ways requires a new battery ev- ers will be thankful, too. touched. Everywhere is the smell of disinfectant. ing reduced driving range of driving? New Jersey of- ery 10 years at a cost of as Robert L. Bradley Jr. is the When I’m not on hand-sanitizer duty, I cantor, singing from a heavy battery and ficials believe their plan will much as $8,500. This is founder and CEO of the In- from the ambo. But I miss the choir - who knows when inconvenient —_ recharging. increase electric vehicles to one reason why the aver- stitute for Energy Research. we can gather again? It’s strange to look out on all those As summer heats up, protect your pup: masked faces, as though we were holding service in a ty- phoid ward, or during the London Blitz. I wonder if people Sitting in the hot church on a recent Sunday with my Never leave your dog in a parked car are singing along silently, in their heads. mask, fanning myself with the petitions, I remembered a nun I had in grade school, Sister Harriet, a tough old bird By Michelle Kretzer, Peo- erinary Medical Association dren, so it’s crucial to ensure call local humane authorities with a gift for allegory. She used to compare the Eucharist ple for the Ethical Treat- warns that in just 10 min- or 911, and stay on the scene that they’re never left in a ‘ment of Animals utes, the temperature inside parked car - even “just for a until they arrive. to a diamond. She told us, “It doesn’t matter what you do Stella in Tallahassee, a parked car can rise to as minute.” If authorities are unre- with a diamond- it’s still a diamond. You can mount it in Florida; Simba and Jasper in much as 20 degrees higher To help prevent more sponsive or slow to react a beautiful ring, surrounded with rubies, or you can stick Minneapolis; Thor in Vicks- than the external tempera- needless deaths, many auto- and the dog seems to be in it onto a piece of cardboard with Scotch tape, and it’s still burg, Mississippi - these are ture. After 20 minutes, it can makers are introducing safe- imminent danger, find a wit- a diamond, just presented in a different way. You can have all dogs who died unneces- go up to 30 degrees higher. ty features that alert drivers ness who will back up your Mass in a cathedral with gold chalices and a big choir and sarily over the past year after In an hour, a vehicle can be when a passenger remains in assessment and do whatever being left in a hot car. more than 40 degrees hotter the backseat after the car has it takes to get the animal out everyone dressed up, or you can have it in a tent in the Last year, at least 33 dogs inside than it is outside. On been turned off. The PETA- of the car (PETA offers a jungle with everyone in rags - the Eucharist is the same. suffered slow, agonizing and a 70-degree day, that’s 110 supported Hot Cars Act of window-breaking hammer That’s what’s important.” terrifying deaths in hot cars, degrees. 2019 would require this on its website that can help) Mass in masks, or music concerts on Zoom, or birthdays and another 126 animals Consumer Reports deter- technology in all new vehi- and into the shade. Try to with a car parade, or anything else that’s been changed and were saved by kind people mined that leaving a car’s cles. These warning systems bring down the dog’s body just in the nick of time. windows cracked slightly are helpful but not foolproof. reduced because of the coronavirus, are like that diamond More than 50 children also ‘open or parking in the shade The only way to ensure that temperature with lukewarm taped to a piece of cardboard. They’re kind of ugly and died this way. Consumer Re- had little effect on the inter- (not cold) water, and then dogs don’t become hot-car awkward and not right, not what we're used to, not what ports estimates that this year, nal temperature. And leaving victims is never to leave get him or her to a veterinar- seems proper. as COVID-19 precautions the air conditioner on isn’t them in one. ian right away. make errands take longer, fail-safe, either. Dogs have As you’re running errands Many states have laws But they're also OK. We’re still being human together, while being responsible for each other’s safety. those numbers may be even died after cars ran out of gas, and walking through park- protecting good Samaritans higher. A/C units malfunctioned or ing lots, keep an eye out. If who save animals from hot Because that’s what the pandemic rules are about - caring But they don’t have to be. the animals inadvertently you see a dog (or anyone cars, and courts have repeat- for each other beyond our own comfort. The mask-wear- We can save countless lives bumped a button, tum- else) trapped inside a hot edly sided with them. And ing and the social distancing and the tape on the floors are just by leaving dogs at home, ing it off. One dog, named car, quickly have the owner people who have left their clumsy reminders of the ideal of all religions, to love one where they’re cool and com- Bootsie, died after a thief paged at the nearest stores. dogs to bake to death have another as we love ourselves, to be each other’s servants. fortable, and being on the stole his guardian’s running Go back to the car and frequently faced felony cru- And we laugh to keep from crying. lookout for victims trapped car and then abandoned it check for signs of heat dis- elty charges. Here’s hoping it’s a lesson we can carry beyond the pan- in hot vehicles while we're with him still trapped inside. tress. These include heavy Michelle Kretzer is a se- out and about. Heatstroke, damage to the panting, lethargy, a dark nior writer for the PETA demic, whenever that day comes. It doesn’t have to be hot brain and other organs, and tongue, vomiting, glazed Foundation, 501 Front St., Mary Wisniewski is a Chicago writer and the author of outside for a car to be dan- death can occur within min- eyes and dizziness. If the Norfolk, VA 23510; www. “Algren: A Life.” gerous. The American Vet- utes for animals and chil- dog appears to be suffering, PETAorg.