60 Minutes: The Big Quit

I wrote a letter to the editor. Me. I'm a Gen Xer who doesn't do any more work than is absolutely necessary on any given day. But this... news article, for lack of a better term, really got my blood boiling.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/great-resignation-60-minutes-2022-01-10/

My Letter:

Dear Bill Whitaker and the 60 Minutes team,

I grew up watching your show with my parents, and had long believed it to be one of the few truly in depth and unbiased news sources left in America.  My faith in that belief has been shaken to the core with this piece.  The undertone of the whole piece seemed to be "get back to work, employers don't have enough workers."  A very slanted take, especially considering you did not interview any struggling workers for the piece.

I will start with a huge problem with this piece: only asking employers but not workers what the problem is.  You did talk to one worker, Melissa Williams, who for lack of a better term, was a success story, about transitioning to a work from home position, and taking on effectively four jobs (the three different companies she works for plus teaching) and promoted it as a good thing.  That is the epitome of the "Hussle Culture" that people are trying to get out of.  She may have done it by choice, but not so many people want to make that choice.  I would not want to give up my job to take on four more, even if one of them was something I was truly passionate about.

The interview with Carl Cobocinski he says "...that they're just not out there."  Did the question about what he pays, or if raising wages would bring them in get cut?  Because that feels like a huge miss in the investigation.  Does he pay his front of house workers the federal minimum wage for tipped employees?   Because he would have a pretty hard time finding workers if that is the case.  Did you interview any of his current employees to ask them why they think nobody wants to work there?  That would have had some really good insight into the Great Resignation.

When James Jordan was asked if it was a work problem, his response was "It's a worker problem."  Again, no; it's a wage problem.  As a chef of 20 years, I can attest to the fact that I love working on the line more than I enjoy my office job; but no restaurant would pay me the salary I have now to do it.  Since again, the question was not aired about wages, I have to assume it was cut for time?  Surely it wasn't skipped if you are maintaining your journalistic integrity.  You took the time to ask him about calling a potential employee every day for two months, which some people would consider harassment, and tried to spin it into a positive thing.  

The pendulum will swing back to the employers...  No.  The pendulum hasn't swung far enough for the employees yet.  It's not just that the time of "You're lucky to have this job," has passed, it is that the working class never wants to hear it again.

Finally, going from 1 in 67 to 1 in 7 jobs being remote, that's a ten-fold increase.  A statistic that I didn't miss while watching.  That's a drastic shift in the workforce, and something that needs more exploring than just a soundbite.

When you are ready to do a follow-up report, may I suggest some points to look at:

• Income inequality
• Wage stagnation
• Wages vs Productivity
• Wages vs Inflation
• Record corporate profits as workers se no gain:
  • Hospitals that pay out huge bonuses at the top and to shareholders, but can't "afford" to pay nurses more
  • Walmart has record profits, but has employees who utilize food stamps.
  • Amazon has record profits, while employees die in their warehouses.
  • Starbucks unionizing in Buffalo
  • Union busting strategies in general

Thank you for your time.

Chef Thomas Mottl