Most individuals utilise their allocated sick leave for unexpected ailments, poorly children, or medical appointments and don’t consider using that time as a potential form of civil disobedience or demonstration against the government or their workplace.
Nevertheless, one organisation with growing membership intends to use their sick leave for exactly that purpose – to use their sick leave against its intended purpose and instead attempt to battle what they perceive as injustices against America’s working class.
Dubbed “The People’s Sick Day,” the online campaign seeks to tackle numerous social and political concerns by withholding their labour and purchasing influence.
In a statement regarding their planned walkout, they criticise the 902 billionaires residing in the United States. According to the group’s mission statement, they plan to institute a so-called “economic blackout.”
Its members would either call in sick or take sick leave for three days, refusing to spend any money during that period, reports the Mirror US.
For those unable to take time off from work, they ask that those members do the bare minimum at their jobs, meaning no unpaid overtime and no special favours for their employers.
Sneak attack
What the organisers see as one of their greatest strengths is that they won’t be announcing the dates months in advance.
Instead, they plan for it to be a “sneak attack” with participants only receiving 48 hours’ notice ahead of the planned three-day strike.
“There are 902 billionaires in the United States; there are 347 or 370 million Americans here, number one. So it’s us against them.
“And if you talk about the people who are below the poverty line, that’s 60% of us, so over 200 million of us against less than a quarter of that. Right? So I would say, first, check the numbers. Secondly, look at history. Look at history. History has shown us that it has worked,” said Karress Marie, one of the main organisers of the People’s Sick Day.
The group’s list of demands is extensive and appears somewhat ambitious, considering the current political climate, growing polarisation, and healthcare, campaign finance reform, tax policy, and wage increases.
Is this plan realistic?
“I would say, yes, it would be difficult to achieve, but impossible? No. While the first round won’t be this shut down the stock market type of moment, you will see the blip on the radar. That will be the starting line,” Marie said. “Do we have secondary plans? Absolutely. What happens after the three-day strike and the blip comes, but the blips gotta get higher.”
Marie stressed that no physical action would occur during the three-day strike, meaning there would be no street demonstrations, no protesting, with the sole action she wants participants to undertake being remaining at home and avoiding spending money.
Stay home protest
She explained this approach stems partly from ongoing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations across the nation and concerns that demonstrations might endanger participants.
“The demonstration is staying home, because of the safety concerns that we have right now, with the outrageous amount of budget that ICE has right now and the the the use of force against American citizens, with the U.S. military, even at a state level, we are asking people to do the absolute most, safest thing in the country, which is stay at home,” Marie said. Marie argued that physical demonstrations could undermine her movement’s core objective of a three-day spending boycott.
She went so far as to condemn street protests like the “No Kings Day” demonstrations, claiming they accomplished nothing whilst pumping money into the economy.
What is ‘victory?’
When pressed about what would constitute a concrete victory for their campaign, Marie explained that simply witnessing deserted shops and empty workplaces would represent success. “I think the tangible thing is obviously the vision, the scene of it happening, right, like physically seeing it in place and going outside and seeing like, oh people actually did stay home,” she said.
“From a demands point of view, I think that them coming to the table to talk, someone in this administration, in the government. And until those conversations are here and prevalent, and we say, ‘Yes, we’re having conversations’, and we’re in the works to dismantle what they got going on.”
Impeach Trump
Marie went on to say that the most concrete outcome they wished to witness was Trump being impeached and ousted from office.
Such a scenario would necessitate impeachment proceedings in the House of Representatives followed by a conviction during a Senate trial, requiring two-thirds, or 67 Senators, to vote in favour of removal.
“I think everyone wants Donald Trump gone, and I think that that’s going to be the most tangible thing that we can see, an impeachment, a real impeachment, with full on support from both Democrats and Republicans on both sides of the aisle, to say we are going to impeach him for his for his violations of the US Constitution, and which we know he has done,” Marie said.
Only time will reveal whether The People’s Sick Day will garner sufficient support and participation to create a measurable impact on the U.S. economy, but from what I observe, their complaints are valid, and their fury justified.
The sole question remains whether their dedication will match their words.