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Texas Domino's staffers seen exhausted after work during storm, Internet calls for wage hike as pic goes viral

'They had a weekend's worth of food and it was gone within 4 hours...these are the essential workers that need recognition'

A photograph of two exhausted Domino's workers in Texas has gone viral and sparked calls for higher wages for essential workers. Two staff members are seen in the picture, appearing exhausted as they work through the winter storm that has brought much of the country to a grinding halt, The Sun reported.

Winter storms have disrupted food delivery services in many states across the country, causing a number of outlets to shutter down and workers being unable to get to their jobs. Meanwhile, it has also resulted in supply chain issues.

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The Domino's workers were snapped in an outlet in San Antonio, Texas, one of the most heavily impacted areas in the country. The photo was captured by News 4 San Antonio viewer Judy DeLuna.

"This Dominos in San Antonio. Working during this crisis," she wrote, per the station. "They had a weekend's worth of food and it was gone within 4 hours. This team helped those that needed help. These are the essential workers that need recognition. They were the only pizza place open. Every pizza place was closed but dominos stayed open to help those in need."

Reporter Emily Baucum came across the photo while viewing the broadcasting channel, and shared it on Twitter — eliciting a flood of responses and calls for raising the minimum wage. "Pay them a living wage. They're literally holding the economy up with their bodies," one tweeted. "Domino's line cooks in Texas make $7.63 an hour. So these essential workers made $30.52 each while producing an entire weekend's worth of pizzas. Domino's executive salaries range from $1.8 million to $5.5 million annually. Capitalism is theft," another added.

"They did a weekend's worth of work in 4 hours but I bet they're not getting a weekend's worth of pay. This is disgusting," a third chimed in. "I used to work at dominos. Peak hours I would slap out over 200 pizzas an hour. I'd go home with flour in my belly button. I work in health care now and the first thing I do when looking at applications is see if they have food service experience. They can hustle," another wrote.

Last month, Senator Bernie Sanders (D-Va.) sparked a backlash on the Internet after comparing the pay and benefits of McDonald’s’ employees in the US to McDonald’s employees in Denmark to illustrate that "America must join the rest of the industrialized world and ensure that our working class can live with dignity."

"McDonald’s worker in the US: $9/hr McDonald’s worker in Denmark: $22/hr, 6 weeks of annual vacation, a union, 1 year of paid family leave, life insurance, and pension. America must join the rest of the industrialized world and ensure that our working class can live with dignity," he tweeted on January 30.

Sanders introduced a $15 minimum wage legislation with the backing of 37 Senate Democrats, claiming his bill would gradually raise the minimum wage to $15 over a period of five years. The federal minimum is $7.25 and has not been raised since 2009. Sanders, who is now the chair of the Senate Budget Committee, stressed that the government needed to pump money into the economy to make sure “people are not working on starvation wages.”