Ever since the COVID lockdowns began there have been nightly ringing of bells and banging of pots and pans in support of front line and health care workers. In Vancouver's West End it starts every night at 7:00 p.m. and there are many other cities around the world where this is also happening. It's a nice gesture that doesn't cost anything and makes the bell ringers feel good.
Ringing bells, however, doesn't do anything for the people they are supporting but money would. The doctors and nurses are reasonably well paid professionals but what about all the lower skilled health care workers and aides toiling for minimum wage who are also risking their lives? These kind hearted individuals often come from places like the Philippines where they have had to leave their own families behind and wait for years to get through the pathetically clogged and complicated Canadian immigration system before they can be reunited.
Then there are those workers deemed as essential who work in the food processing industry and as clerks in our grocery stores. Once again these people are working for minimum wage in spite of there being nothing more important than making sure we have food to eat. But just like the health care workers we can't find enough of them and in the Okanagan this past summer unharvested fruit rotted on the ground because there was nobody to pick it.
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