[gutnor]

There is a "Fight club" feel to this crisis. All the "key worker", necessary job that need to be done regardless the catastrophe society is facing are literally the least desirable job on the market and often the least paid too.

Hopefully there is going to be wake up call in society. Surely a large scale demonstration like this would convince people that your "free market capitalistic assigned worth, i.e. your salary" is not a sufficient measure of your value in society and external adjustment (eg: government regulation or welfare or ...) is actually quite reasonable.

[Mountain_Skies]

It's like the opposite of the Galt's Gulch strike by the titans of industry in Atlas Shrugged. Unfortunately for the workers, the sudden spike in unemployment might make them easily replaceable, though there will be a training cost incurred by the companies. Their best hope is that enough unemployed people are comfortable with their government checks (stimulus and unemployment) combined with hope that their jobs will come back in a month or two, to not bother picking up jobs at Whole Foods or Amazon.

[claudeganon]

Only on Hacker News could you find some describing strikes, which were invented by workers, predate everything Rand wrote to cynically invert history and reality, as the “opposite of Galt’s Gulch.”

[Kaiyou]

Why would it be reasonable? If you're not willing to perform a job at the current pay grade, just quit your job. Either you get replaced immediately or you've got yourself a chip in your salary negotiation.

[habosa]

Switching jobs right now would cost you: a) Income you need to provide yourself food and shelter in a time of insecurity. b) Healthcare loss during one of the worst global health crises ever.

The switching cost is near infinite and not reflected in the pay.

[rumanator]

> Why would it be reasonable? If you're not willing to perform a job at the current pay grade, just quit your job.

That is not an option for those living paycheck to paycheck, or not in the prime of their life.

Human beings are not a resource, and managers need to understand that there is a social cost they pay and thus need to comply with a social contract.