> ideas that either negatively impact the poorest portion of our society

I don't see the connection here, why would it affect the poorest?

I don't think people mean that all shops close earlier, just that they'd need to hire more people to cover a reduced shift.

> we need to automate out the poorest roles in society

I think we've done that many times in history but it has never led to a reduced workload, usually the company will take the increased profits and the ones that lost their job need to find something else