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I think workers are going to be unwilling to accept anything less than real change in the value of their work and structural change in the economy that transforms these jobs once and for all into jobs that are valued by society, but also jobs that people can live on and provide a decent life for their families.

Hello and welcome to the Asher Klein Show on the Vox Media Podcast Network.

First some exciting news. We won the Webby Award, the show one, the Webby Award for Best Interview Podcast for 2020 and the People's Voice Award. Thanks to all of you for the same.

It's really exciting and I want to just take the moment to really thank Jeffrey Gell for doing an amazing job producing and editing the show under pretty difficult circumstances lately and Rajay Karma for synthesizing amounts of information at a speed like no one can believe I'm really proud of the show but very lucky to work with this team.

And so thank you for watching.

I'm really proud of the show but I'm really happy to work with this team and so thank you to both of them and of course all of you for listening.

It's a nice and I spent a recognition for us all my guest today is Mary Kay Henry, the president of the service employees international union.

This is a two million strong person union that includes a huge number of America's what we now call essential workers and frontline workers.

And I wanted to have this conversation because I've been talking on the podcast and thinking a lot about the ways in which the workers we now understand to be essential are treated in our economy as disposable and not just disposable but as low status right they don't make much money oftentimes are not treated well they're not.

They're not given respect in the culture for their work people don't look at you differently if you say you're a home health care aid whereas you know people brag about being and I don't mean to pick on management consultants but a management consultant and and why is that and of course one of the answers there is power there's power in the economy that is operating alongside everything else.

And the groups to do the most of course to bring power to jobs and workers who often don't start out having are the unions and SEIU in particular American Henry is the first woman to lead SEIU she's been named to fast company magazines 100 most creative leaders in the economy

political named her one of 50 visionaries reshaping American politics in 2019 the governor of California tapped her to co chair the state's future of work commission and she's somebody is able to bring a deep organizing background a very big macro view of the economy and also a very intense emotional relationship with the people doing the hardest work in the economy right now all together in one package.

So this is in my view an important conversation as always my email is as a client show at box.com here is Mary Kay Henry.

Mary Kay Henry welcome to the podcast good to be with you as well so first just how are you what is it been like doing this work at this time I'm in deep grief about the individual lives that have been lost one of the first members that I heard about is a woman I've known for 25 years she's a

30 year nursing home worker in Detroit Michigan I marched with her up and down grand avenue on a strike 10 years ago she was incredibly loving towards my mother who I used to bring to union events and she was one of the first names I heard of someone who had lost her life from COVID-19 and I was telling you as before we started that you know there are days when the waves of grief and the

waves of grief because of the number of losses have been overwhelming to absorb like we have a Connecticut health care leader who had 11 members die in nursing homes just in a week I think it was in the fourth week of the pandemic

Royaling through Connecticut and then our property services local in New York City has had over a hundred people die more than they lost in the trade tower and we see the numbers every day but when I see the numbers I think of these individual human beings who were doing their very best to show up and care for the people they love.

So that's one emotion that I have learned in these 12 weeks to understand I have to hold and I got open space in my day to weep off of the phone and podcast and things and then the second thing I feel right behind that grief is like a fury that essential workers across the service and care sector are in this situation that president Trump didn't do his job that people are being left to fend for themselves.

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