I am basically yelling into a void here because I have 33 total followers, but if anyone is searching the hashtags #boston or #coronavirus #bostonconstruction or any combination thereof (as I have been CONSTANTLY) to get any updates about the situation in Boston, here goes...
I am a Union construction worker, currently working on a project in the Seaport area of Boston. All the joking and sarcasm that was prevalent the last few weeks has made way for slight panic and a general sense of uncertainty today.
I just spoke to the job super and asked “what’s the word? Any idea if there’s talk of shutting down sites?” I asked a few other foreman the same question earlier. The consensus is that it’s coming, we just don’t know when.
The super suggested that the reluctance to shut down sites is based on the reality that we are almost exclusively hourly workers. If we don’t work, we don’t get paid. Fortunately, I live in Massachusetts and we are entitled to 40 hr. paid sick time a year.
If the order to self-isolate is mandated (think Watertown lockdown), most people would be OK for the first week or so. From what I’ve heard, self-isolating for 2 weeks+ is necessary to prevent further infecting others until there is a test for #coronavirus.
Meanwhile, people who live paycheck-to-paycheck are spending more than usual on groceries and essentials to stock up. From what I’ve observed, 2 things are very clear:
1.) The vast majority of hourly workers in construction will show up to work until we are forbidden to do so.
1.) The vast majority of hourly workers in construction will show up to work until we are forbidden to do so.
2.) Most people would be screwed if they had to go more than 2 weeks without a paycheck.
The super I spoke to said something surprising: that the developers or clients would have to be willing to pay us to stay home. Something along the lines of what Mark Cuban @mcuban has indicated... that we would be paid as if we were still working.
I asked if there was any appetite for that among the clients and he said “I fucking hope so!” I’m doubtful that would ever happen, but unless many hourly workers in many different sectors have some sense of financial security, they will continue to show up at work.
The number of infections will increase exponentially. People will show up to work because they HAVE to. People will expose themselves and others. People will go broke. People will lose their elderly loved ones. The list goes on.
This particular project is walking distance to the hotel where the #biogen conference was ground zero for infections in Boston. I haven’t met a single person who has been tested, or who knows someone who has been tested... and I’ve been actively trying to meet one.
So for now, everyone is trying to carry on as normal, while potentially exposing themselves and everyone they’ve come in contact with. We had no sanitizer for the Porta-potties yesterday for a period of time, either because the demand is so high or people are stealing them.
It’s pretty difficult to stay positive when at every turn, there is a roadblock to following the recommendations to stay at home if possible, wash hands, and avoid contact with others. This is our livelihood. But, until the order is given to stay home, most can’t.
No one knows what is going to happen, short- or long-term, but if we can’t guarantee we aren’t making it worse- then we are making it worse. I fear that each job will be shut down individually as people begin to show symptoms or have contact with those who have.
What happens for a worker who needs to make ends meet then? They get sent to a different job site until the same happens there. And on and on.
