Treat our holiday workers with respect

For most people, the holiday season is about family, celebration and joy. But for the people who make that joy possible, the cashiers, the warehouse workers, the warehouse pickers, the drivers and the food workers who keep the holiday economy moving, it’s a time of exhaustion, stress and, too often, fear.

This year, the pressure on workers is greater than ever. Prices continue to rise, seasonal hiring decreases and tempers are increasingly heated. Retail theft and customer assaults are growing problems. And new technologies, including AI, are transforming work in ways that disempower people instead of improving their jobs. What was supposed to make work easier is now used to monitor, discipline, and hold down employees harder than ever.

Too often the focus is on how quickly goods can move and profits increase, rather than on the well-being of the people who make this possible. Vacation workers are expected to respond to unrealistic demands with a smile, while juggling irregular schedules, unpredictable schedules and the pressure of covering shifts when staff is short. Workers deserve more than polite gratitude; they deserve jobs that provide them with stability, security and the opportunity to lead a decent life.

In stores across every city, front-line workers are facing a wave of harassment, even violence, from frustrated shoppers. Many are blamed for store policies or prices they didn’t create. No one should have to fear for their safety just to earn a paycheck. Employers have a duty to maintain safe staffing levels, train workers to defuse tense situations and ensure effective safety. And customers can also contribute. Patience and respect cost nothing, but they mean everything to the people behind the counter.

The pressure is even more intense in the sprawling distribution centers that drive online shopping. At companies like Amazon, workers are tracked by algorithms that measure every second of their day, including how quickly they move, how long they take breaks, and how many packages they process. Even short breaks can trigger warnings or disciplinary action. Mandatory overtime and impossible, often unknown quotas push workers to the breaking point, leading to injuries and burnout.

This is not innovation. This is exploitation disguised as efficiency. People are not machines and no algorithm should define their value. When companies put speed and profit ahead of safety and humanity, everyone loses. Amazon and other major retailers need to hire enough people to do the work safely, slow down and end union fighting. Workers who organize to improve their jobs deserve respect, not retaliation.

And let’s not forget the workers who make the holidays happen well before the shopping begins, the farm workers who harvest the crops, the food processing workers who package the goods, the warehouse and distribution workers who move everything onto store shelves and, ultimately, onto our tables. Many of them work in extreme heat or cold, often without adequate protection or fair pay. Their work supports our celebrations, but their struggles remain largely invisible.

The truth is that the retail and food supply industries are evolving faster than ever. AI now touches almost every part of the system, from scheduling and staffing to loss prevention and performance monitoring. But technology should serve people, not exploit them. Progress cannot mean turning workers into data points or replacing human judgment with cold algorithms.

Protecting the voices of workers is more important than ever. When employees can organize and bargain collectively, they can help shape how technology is used, setting fair limits and ensuring that innovation improves jobs instead of undermining them. That’s why we need strong laws to protect workers from violence, regulate the use of AI in the workplace, and cap production quotas that endanger health and safety.

Policymakers must ensure that innovation and profit never trump fairness, dignity and basic decency at work. Empowering workers to have a voice in these changes is not only good policy; it’s good for everyone.

But laws alone are not enough. Every employer, policymaker and consumer has a role to play in ensuring this season is truly a season of goodwill, starting with how we treat the people who make it all possible. True holiday spirit isn’t measured in sales numbers or delivery times. This is reflected in how we value each other.

So as you shop and celebrate this year, take a moment to thank the workers who make this possible and to demand a system that treats them with the dignity and respect they deserve every day. Because goodwill shouldn’t stop when the decorations come down.

Appelbaum is president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU).