Member-only story
The Great Vaccine Mandate Divide
Love them or hate them, vaccine mandates are worsening the labor shortage where we can least afford it.
Ah; the holidays. What a glorious time of year.
From the Jewish high holy celebration of Hanukkah, to the Christian and secular celebrations of Christmas, to the meaning-imbued traditions of Kwanza; there is much to be enjoyed during the festive winter Holiday season.
For many, it is a time of hope and family; of renewal, religious observance and rejuvenation. For small business owners in the retail industry, it is often an opportunity to make ends meet for the rest of the year.
The 2021 make-or-break holiday retail season is even more fraught than ever- more fraught even than the many unknowns of Christmas Past 2020. This year, small business owners and the working-class are facing a giant rolling snowball of challenges: All the terrors of COVID-19 circa 2020, plus new variants, and a labor shortage, supply chain issues, rising inflation, a growing crime problem and higher fuel prices.
Across multiple key industries, vaccine holdouts are pushing the labor shortage to its breaking point. Stores everywhere, large and small, are having to shorten their hours of operation, close and/or restructure their workforce in order to cope with the shortage.