Item

Stacking Refrigerators: A Pandemic Work Story

Title (Dublin Core)

Stacking Refrigerators: A Pandemic Work Story

Description (Dublin Core)

This image is of me working at a refrigerator plant during the Spring of 2021. Before I started working at my law firm, I bounced around and did odd jobs to make ends meet. I came across this plant job in my hometown because the plant was suffering from severe labor shortages due to COVID-19. The plant was offering higher pay due to labor shortages and was offering to hire in employees faster because of it. We were required to wear mask inside the plant at all times regardless of it being extremely hot and were expected to do overtime and come in on weekends if needed. I did not only want to highlight the work conditions of this job but illuminate businesses began to operate due to the dire conditions of the pandemic. I also wanted to highlight how some people had to continue to work during the pandemic despite setbacks with workers, production numbers, and work conditions. It is important to illuminate stories like these because many essential workers stories are not heard and recognized. Despite unemployment numbers being at all-time high nationally, people are still working. Therefore, it is important to recognize the sacrifices and contributions workers like I had to make in order to continue to support ourselves and our loved ones.

Date (Dublin Core)

April 20, 2020

Creator (Dublin Core)

Self

Event Identifier (Dublin Core)

HST580

Partner (Dublin Core)

Arizona State University

Type (Dublin Core)

Photograph

Controlled Vocabulary (Dublin Core)

English Labor
English Business & Industry
English Economy

Curator's Tags (Omeka Classic)

plant worker
Anderson
Tennessee
sacrifice
essential worker
employment
mask

Contributor's Tags (a true folksonomy) (Friend of a Friend)

ASU
Arizona State University
workforce
job
wellness
socialdistance
businesses
essential

Linked Data (Dublin Core)

Date Submitted (Dublin Core)

04/20/2020

Date Modified (Dublin Core)

04/02/2022
08/02/2022

Item sets

This item was submitted on April 2, 2022 by Ashley Hampton (She/Her) using the form “Share Your Story” on the site “A Journal of the Plague Year”: https://covid-19archive.org/s/archive

Click here to view the collected data.

New Tags

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