We need to pay key workers with more than just gratitude | Sarah Jaffe

The Covid pandemic is a sharp reminder that unpaid emotional labour is central to so many jobsAt the start of the pandemic, many of us gained a new appreciation for the workers who keep the world going. Customers thanked supermarket staff, applauded delivery vans and pasted rainbows in their windows to thank the NHS. But none of this recognition has yet translated into pay rises, extra holidays or extended sick pay. Instead, as people lined up to clap those who assumed the extra burden of emotional labour during this pandemic, healing us back to health and soothing our fears, many seemed to think the greatest reward for this kind of work was emotion itself.Emotions are one of the most important sources of profit in the contemporary economy. Companies have long been profiting from our feelings – Facebook’s like button is perhaps the most obvious example. Our millions of likes are micro-units of labour. Click by click, they produce data that is worth billions. “Affect”, or our subjective emotional experiences, as the media scholar Marcus Gilroy-Ware recently pointed out, is a source of surplus value. Continue reading... https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jan/27/key-workers-gratitude-covid-pandemic-emotional-labour-jobs #work_&_careers #coronavirus #health_policy #retail_industry #health #politics #public_services_policy