This Thanksgiving, families will be gathering around the table to eat surrounded by loved ones. Grandparents will sit in front of the television with their grandchildren in their laps, watching football or the annual Thanksgiving parade. Some may decorate trees and turn on Christmas carols to celebrate the start of that holiday season, while others will light their menorahs for Hanukkah.
Unfortunately, far too many families will be broken up, because someone will be forced to go to work or there won’t be any food on the table at all. More retailers than ever are opening their doors on Thanksgiving Day, using it as a means to extend the “Black Friday” shopping spree that companies use to shore up their yearly profits. Stores say they are reacting to consumer demand, andcriticism that they are allowing corporate greed to overtake the holiday season is just rolling off their backs.
Retailers are fully aware of the public relations disaster that more employees working the holiday is becoming for their own brands. As such, more perks are being given to employees taking those shifts to try to make working Thanksgiving seem like a treat rather than a punishment. Macy’s, which will be open on Thanksgiving for the first time, ever, is providing those who work in their stores that day with overtime pay, joining the ranks of all the other retailers offering the same. Many companies say they will offer discounts and meals as well.
The irony of potentially getting a meal at work as well can’t be lost on Wal-Mart employees, who, at one branch location were asked to donate food to their own co-workers who might not be able to afford to provide a Thanksgiving dinner to their own families this year.
Corporate PR entities are claiming that this has employees clamoring to work on Thanksgiving Day. That’s likely true. Sadly, they are probably eager to do so in order to see their hourly pay, which hovers in the $8 to $10 dollar range, increased to between $13 and $15 an hour, what most economic sources consider to be an actual living wage.
This leaves workers with families with a huge dilemma. Either they can leave their families for the day, heading into a retailer or other low wage paying job where they can spend the day earning an additional $50 – $150 dollars, money that could be used for presents, food or in many cases just to help make ends meet, or they can remain at home and celebrate the holiday like a number of those in the country who have the advantage of higher earnings, or even better, the luxury of paid holidays. For parents especially, the temptation to work is even greater since a holiday offers the likelihood of available relatives or friends who can provide childcare when most care centers and schools are closed.
Over one third of minimum wage earners are parents, making holidays a grueling choice between time with family and the need to provide. With consumers growing more anxious for the deep discounts offered by retailers on Thanksgiving and Black Friday, and companies more and more desperate to make a profit during a still slogging economic recovery, it becomes a vicious cycle. Without strong holiday period sales, they don’t meet their profit outlook, which then gets reflected in hiring and pay. But they can’t get that without their workers, and to get the workers in, they have to offer them essentially the same wages that those workers should be receiving every day.
As we celebrate Thanksgiving, a time for being grateful for abundance, let’s hope we all remember those who want to be with their families but can’t, and the economic system that has put them in that situation.
Help us Prepare for Trump’s Day One
Trump is busy getting ready for Day One of his presidency – but so is Truthout.
Trump has made it no secret that he is planning a demolition-style attack on both specific communities and democracy as a whole, beginning on his first day in office. With over 25 executive orders and directives queued up for January 20, he’s promised to “launch the largest deportation program in American history,” roll back anti-discrimination protections for transgender students, and implement a “drill, drill, drill” approach to ramp up oil and gas extraction.
Organizations like Truthout are also being threatened by legislation like HR 9495, the “nonprofit killer bill” that would allow the Treasury Secretary to declare any nonprofit a “terrorist-supporting organization” and strip its tax-exempt status without due process. Progressive media like Truthout that has courageously focused on reporting on Israel’s genocide in Gaza are in the bill’s crosshairs.
As journalists, we have a responsibility to look at hard realities and communicate them to you. We hope that you, like us, can use this information to prepare for what’s to come.
And if you feel uncertain about what to do in the face of a second Trump administration, we invite you to be an indispensable part of Truthout’s preparations.
In addition to covering the widespread onslaught of draconian policy, we’re shoring up our resources for what might come next for progressive media: bad-faith lawsuits from far-right ghouls, legislation that seeks to strip us of our ability to receive tax-deductible donations, and further throttling of our reach on social media platforms owned by Trump’s sycophants.
We’re preparing right now for Trump’s Day One: building a brave coalition of movement media; reaching out to the activists, academics, and thinkers we trust to shine a light on the inner workings of authoritarianism; and planning to use journalism as a tool to equip movements to protect the people, lands, and principles most vulnerable to Trump’s destruction.
We urgently need your help to prepare. As you know, our December fundraiser is our most important of the year and will determine the scale of work we’ll be able to do in 2025. We’ve set two goals: to raise $110,000 in one-time donations and to add 1350 new monthly donors by midnight on December 31.
Today, we’re asking all of our readers to start a monthly donation or make a one-time donation – as a commitment to stand with us on day one of Trump’s presidency, and every day after that, as we produce journalism that combats authoritarianism, censorship, injustice, and misinformation. You’re an essential part of our future – please join the movement by making a tax-deductible donation today.
If you have the means to make a substantial gift, please dig deep during this critical time!
With gratitude and resolve,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy