New York Mayor Eric Adams has been in his position for a little more than a week, and he’s already sowing discord.
With the rise of COVID-19 cases, there have been questions about whether companies should wait to fully open until the end of winter, or possibly in April. Adams didn’t think that would benefit essential workers.
He wanted large businesses to encourage their employees to come into the office for a few days per week to support the smaller operations that rely on commuters.
“My low-skill workers, my cooks, my dishwashers, my messengers, my shoe shine people, those that work in Dunkin’ Donuts, they don’t have the academic skills to sit in the corner office,” Adams said during a press conference. “They need this.”
Adams must have seen the criticism for his “low-skill” comment and responded on Twitter.
“I was a cook. I was a dishwasher. If nobody came to my restaurant when I was in college, I wouldn’t have been able to survive,” Adams tweeted. “When you talk about closing down your city, you’re talking about putting low-wage workers out of a job. I’m not letting that happen.”
The biggest problem with Adams’ initial comments is that they portrayed essential workers as not capable of working in higher level positions. There are many workers with degrees who are working for low wages. That doesn’t mean that they’re not able to be successful in a corporate or business setting.
