The Empty Ethics of “Shop Small”
As economies crater in the pandemic recession, the call to buy “handmade” local goods has gained new force. It’s not that simple.
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This spring, Marissa Nuncio, director of the Garment Worker Center in Los Angeles, had a Zoom meeting with some of the center’s 300 members. Even during the pandemic, when they were considered essential workers as they made thousands of face masks, the members reported a lack of personal protective equipment, no social distancing, and little disinfection of facilities or even time to wash their hands during long factory shifts. Nuncio searched Etsy for face masks to show workers what the going rate was. “Our members show a lot of resilience through their humor,” Nuncio said. “And they just cracked up laughing $20! $15! They were like, ‘We’re getting paid two cents a mask in our factories.’”