r/science • u/eastbayted • 2d ago

Health Sick food service workers remain top driver of viral foodborne outbreaks in US

https://www.healio.com/news/gastroenterology/20250331/sick-food-service-workers-remain-top-driver-of-viral-foodborne-outbreaks-in-us
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u/SlothBling 2d ago

It’s one of the inherent issues of the service industry that I can’t really imagine a workaround for; no one should have to come in on their day off, but no workplace schedules extra staff to loiter around on property performing no labor on the off chance that someone calls out and they become needed. Honestly, I really feel like most of the luxuries afforded to workers in “civilized” countries must only be relevant to white collar workers or society would immediately grind to a halt. When Scandinavians take their summer vacations, who produces the food and provides public services?

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u/Splash_Attack 2d ago

When Scandinavians take their summer vacations, who produces the food and provides public services?

It's not all at the same time. People are entitled to a few weeks of holidays consecutively, somewhere within in a three month summer period. Businesses just plan ahead and make sure their staff don't all take it at the same time.

Or sometimes they do the opposite and do all take it at once, and simply close for a month. How many businesses are there that people cannot live without for one month?

Many businesses also take on some seasonal staff in the summer if they want to stay open. It isn't really that complicated, it's not like summer comes as a surprise to anyone.

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u/sfurbo 2d ago

It’s one of the inherent issues of the service industry that I can’t really imagine a workaround for; no one should have to come in on their day off, but no workplace schedules extra staff to loiter around on property performing no labor on the off chance that someone calls out and they become needed.

There's loads of reasonable solutions: Make the pay to go in on your day off worth it, pay people a certain amount to be on call, or have enough staff that a normal amount of illness takes it from "OK" to "busy". They all cost the business money, so there needs to be some external push, either from legislation or from unions, and they will increase prices.

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u/rileyoneill 2d ago

There can also be companies that offer “fill in” services for restaurants. Like they have dishwashers who work for them. If you run a restaurant and your dishwasher is sick you call up this company and request a dishwasher and one shows up and fills in. You pay the company, not the laborer (the company pays the laborer). If a city has hundreds restaurants it’s likely a common scenario where a dishwasher is sick in at least a few of them on a regular basis. This would be more expensive than paying a regular full time employee but at least they will likely never be short staffed and could fill positions with a very short notice.

If you work as a dishwasher for one of these companies you will probably work daily, just at a different restaurant every day. Your workload will not be agreed between you and the restaurant you are working for at the day but between you and your employer, your employer will work out the details with the restaurant. So if the restaurant owner can’t just ask you to do a bunch of extras because their agreement is with the company that employs you.

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u/sfurbo 2d ago

That's a really good option I hadn't considered, thank you for mentioning it.

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u/funAmbassador 1d ago

Yessss!!! I’ve always fantasized about there being some kind of “food workers guild” or something. With services and resources like this to help us out. I love this industry, but man, it can be so cruel and unfair

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u/Vivecs954 2d ago

It seems like this is only a problem in the us

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u/Sgt-Spliff- 1d ago

Which is why they literally asked what other countries do. What do other countries do when shift workers call off last minute?

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u/Vivecs954 1d ago

They pay them more, they have union representation, they have higher prices and are open less so less staff needed.

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u/Sgt-Spliff- 1d ago

Most of what you said doesn't address what they do when shift workers call off though. Like if you run a coffee shop and your barista calls in sick. How does the coffee shop operate that day?

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u/leitmot 1d ago

Maybe it’s ok for the coffee shop not to operate for one day

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u/Sgt-Spliff- 1d ago

Is that what they do in Europe? Or just anywhere with strong workers rights? Genuinely asking anyone who knows