U.S. workers at a handful of major companies plan to walk off the job Friday, protesting treatment during the outbreak of coronavirus.
Warehouse workers and grocery employees at Amazon and its subsidiary Whole Foods and gig workers for Instacart and Target-owned Shipt are banding together for the protest on May Day, or International Workers Day. The workers – whose jobs have become ever more critical during the age of coronavirus quarantines and stay-at-home orders – are calling for more personal protective equipment, professional cleaning services and hazard pay from their employers.
Each of those groups of workers have previously waged individual protests since March, with what companies described as little impact to operations. But Friday is the first time workers classified as essential will combine their efforts.
“This is a matter of life or death,” said Christian Smalls, a former Amazon worker who was fired from a Staten Island warehouse in March and who is helping organize the effort. “The virus is killing some of our employees.”
(Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.)
Workers at about 25 Amazon warehouses are expected to walk out midday and petition in front of the facilities, Smalls said, and they will often be joined by Instacart, Shipt and other workers. Other Amazon workers are planning to call off their shifts Friday to protest what they see as the company’s lax responses to safety precautions. Smalls said he expects thousands of workers in the U.S. to take part.
Smalls said he was fired for helping organize a protest; Amazon said he violated an order that he stay home after being exposed to covid-19.
The onset of coronavirus and the subsequent classification of many of these workers as “essential” has heightened some existing tensions. Workers have accused the companies of being slow to provide protective gear and implement precautions, something that may have put them in danger.
Willy Solis, a Shipt organizer in Dallas and an organizer of the May Day protests, said Target, which owns Shipt, is not doing enough.
“They said they procured PPE for all shoppers,” he said, referring to protective gear such as masks and gloves. “In reality, only a very small portion of us have received it.”
The companies disagree. Amazon expects to spend more than $800 million in the first half of 2020 on covid-19 related improvements for hourly employees and partners, including raising wages by $2 an hour through May 16, said spokesperson Rachael Lighty.
“While we respect people’s right to express themselves, we object to the irresponsible actions of labor groups in spreading misinformation and making false claims about Amazon during this unprecedented health and economic crisis,” Lightly said. “The statements made are not supported by facts or representative of the majority of the 500,000 Amazon operations employees in the U.S. who are showing up to work to support their communities.”
Whole Foods spokesperson Rachel Malish echoed those remarks, saying the action isn’t representative of the company’s 95,000 employees and that organizers have misrepresented “the full extent of Whole Foods Market’s actions in response to this crisis.”
Instacart spokesperson Natalia Montalvo said the company has been working to implement new policies, distribute protective equipment and give out bonuses.
Shipt spokesperson Julie Coop said the company is distributing protective equipment to shoppers and giving out bonuses. Meanwhile, Target is deep cleaning check lanes, limiting customer traffic and adding plexiglass partitions, spokesperson Danielle Schumann said. “While we take them seriously, the concerns raised are from a very small minority,” she said in an email.
The economic crisis triggered by the coronavirus pandemic has led to thousands of layoffs, and only essential businesses have been allowed to stay open. Fueling workers’ concerns, grocery store employees have died from the virus across the country, pushing others to stay home or quit.
Amazon, Instacart and Shipt have been slammed by orders as people turn online for necessities. On Thursday, Amazon reported a 26 percent spike in revenue for its first quarter but said profits were hit as it spends $4 billion on covid-related expenses, including worker safety.
Amazon workers in dozens of warehouses have tested positive for covid-19, and at least one worker has died.
Companies posting profits in the midst of the pandemic are under a microscope. “If their sales are going up, but they are not passing any reasonable pay onto workers, it could be a huge PR disaster for some of these companies,” says Molly Kinder, a fellow at Brookings Institute, a public policy think tank.
Workers are also calling for people to broadly boycott Amazon, Whole Foods, Instacart and Target on Friday.
“Support essential workers! Don’t cross the picket line!” a poster circulating on social media reads.
Economists and historians interviewed by The Post say it is unusual to see worker protests when unemployment is skyrocketing.
“People’s backs are up against the wall in a way they haven’t been in quite some time,” Louis Hyman, author of “Temp: How American Work, American Business, and the American Dream Became Temporary,” said in an interview in late March. “The idea that you’re going to risk your death to deliver food for a $5 tip, it’s going to make you angry, it’s going to make you feel like you have nothing left to lose.”
(c) 2020, The Washington Post · Rachel Lerman, Nitasha Tiku
{Matzav.com}
