ABSTRACT
In considering my essay for this book, I reflected on how current media discussion about the economic and social impacts of COVID-19, growing inequality, and the need to reform labor markets is dominated by the privileged voices of politicians, business and industry leaders, and also, but less often, by trade union officials and social advocates. Occasionally, a less privileged voice is heard from a person living in a car, being evicted from their house, desperate to find work of any sort, or marginalized in low-paying, undervalued, often “essential,” work. I began to wonder what ideas about rethinking work and building better workplaces could be harnessed by listening to the voices of people with lived experience of inequality, oppression, and marginalization, including “frontline” marginalized workers, and who seem to be spoken “about” and “for” rather than “with” and “to.” Would ideas that have also been marginalized percolate to the surface? I agree with the editors of this book that “significant thought, deliberation, and reflection” is needed at this time. My question is who gets to reflect and deliberate. In my essay, I will reflect on dominant discourses and introduce the constructs of intersectionality and kyriarchy in the complex systems of the COVID-19 landscape, and consider the potential of co-design and social innovation to broaden the scope of who has a say in rethinking work and building better workplaces.
