Have We Forgotten Our Urban Essential Workers?

Urban essential workers are employed in key sectors, providing essential services such as public transport, cleaning, childcare and access to food. Five years ago, the COVID-19 pandemic shed light on these mostly invisible workers. However, low wages, poor working conditions and low social recognition still characterize their daily work. Despite their crucial role, these workers are often not valued, highlighting the need for renewed public appreciation as well as meaningful changes to improve their working conditions.

It is now almost five years since COVID-19 severely disrupted our societies in ways that no one could have predicted. Urban essential workers (UEWs) continued to play a crucial role in providing essential services to our society, even during the lockdowns. While their work has received more attention, who qualifies as an essential worker varies from country to country and remains politically contested. According to the International Labour Office (ILO), UEWs are workers who “cover the main services needed to maintain the basic functions of an economy and society” (ILO).

Our research project, funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation, focuses on the experiences of UEWs during the COVID-19 pandemic. We have been investigating the experiences of UEWs during the pandemic, the challenges they faced and the support measures that would have been most effective for them, given their critical role in society. The study focuses on four representative key sectors with either relatively high social value (public transport & childcare) or relatively low social value (cleaning staff & shop assistants). In total, we conducted 48 (walking) interviews. In the following, we aim to present the daily routines and realities of four interviewees and how they experienced the pandemic.

Fernanda M., 35 Years Old, Cleaning

Fernanda works as a cleaner, keeping the offices, toilets and stairwells of a public building clean. Like many other UEWs, she has a migration story. She was born in Brazil and spent several years working in childcare in Portugal. When she moved to Switzerland seven years ago, she cleaned mainly in private homes. However, due to the pandemic, she suddenly lost almost all her clients and was temporarily without work, and therefore, without income. Today she works for an international cleaning company. She gets up at 4.20 a.m. for her shift, which starts at six in the morning and lasts until half past eleven. In the evening she works for another cleaning company. Although Fernanda likes her job, she feels unappreciated. Apart from a better salary, she would like to be greeted more often by the people she cleans for. It seems like a small gesture, but it could make a big difference and show appreciation for her work.

Joe P., 52, Public Transport

Joe is a tram driver in Zurich. He grew up in Germany but has lived in Switzerland for over twenty years. Before completing the three-month training program to become a tram driver in 2017, he had already worked in various roles in the transport industry. As well as driving trams, he also spends some of his time in the office, managing projects and optimizing service. Joe’s shifts can vary, with start times ranging from early in the morning to late at night. In general, however, Joe likes his job and considers his work to be highly relevant to the system. In addition, he feels that he and his colleagues have a good public reputation, due to the long tradition of his profession and the increased visibility during COVID-19.

Mariem H., 30, Childcare

Mariem grew up in a foreign country and was later adopted by a European family. Eight years ago, she decided to study early childhood education in Lausanne because she was interested in social issues and education. Unfortunately, her second apprenticeship in a childcare center started in the year of the pandemic and her studies were also canceled. During COVID-19, she and her team experienced stressful situations, often combined with general uncertainty and the additional burden of implementing new national and cantonal measures, and restrictions. Their daily work was made more difficult by the need to wear masks, disinfect surfaces and toys, and wash work clothes daily, to name a few. Nevertheless, for Mariem, childcare is a personal vocation, she finds it very rewarding, and our society needs her work as there is a general shortage of staff in the sector.

Novka A., 47,  Grocery Retail

Novka, originally from Macedonia, trained as a grocery saleswoman and has over 20 years of experience in her profession. In her current role, she is mainly responsible for operating the tills. Novka and her colleagues ensure that our society has access to food, often from early in the morning until late at night, six or even seven days a week. The extended opening/working hours are also the first thing Novka would change to improve her working conditions. In addition, other interviewees mentioned that much of their work is taken for granted, that customers do not understand the complexity of their work, or that some people look down on them.

Essential but Overlooked

The smooth functioning of our system is guaranteed by workers, mostly female and often from migrant backgrounds. Workers like Fernanda, Joe, Mariem and Novka received a bit more public attention during the pandemic. But we know little about their working conditions and daily lives – even though we come into direct or indirect contact with these people working in key sectors several times a day. Often, we, as customers, overlook the fact that their long opening hours require staff to be present, leading to extended or fragmented working schedules for them.

Bringing the UEWs back into the spotlight is the first step in increasing the value of their work. This could start with simple gestures such as saying hello and trying to understand the real complexity behind their work. However, these are only small steps, and political action is needed to have a significant impact.

What these policies might look like and how they might be implemented is the subject of the second part of our research project. We will be interviewing stakeholders in the four key sectors described above and finally contrast them with the lived experiences of urban essential workers.  A thoughtful reminder that Fernanda M. mentioned during her interview: “We all want to be appreciated. Everything is connected and we all need each other.”

Florence Testorelli has been a student research assistant at the Spatial Development and Urban Policy (SPUR) Institute since 2023 and is doing her Master’s in Geography. Peppino Müller is pursuing his Master’s in Geography at the University of Zurich and has been working as a research assistant at the Spatial Development and Urban Policy (SPUR) institute since 2023.

This article is part of a series on “Vulnerabilization of migrant workers during crises.”

Reference and Notes:

For identity protection, the participants were anonymized.

­­–World Employment and Social Outlook (2023): The value of essential work. Geneva: International Labour Office, 2023.