Strike Called For Walmart, Target In NC Over Coronavirus Safety

NORTH CAROLINA — Employees at Walmart, Target and other companies are fed up with being deemed “essential workers” yet not being afforded much more than minimal protection from the new coronavirus, and they plan to do something about it Friday in North Carolina and elsewhere.

Workers at those stores — as well as Amazon, Whole Foods, Instacart, FedEx and Shipt — say they will walk off the job Friday in a protest being called a “May Day General Strike.” They’re also calling on consumers to boycott those companies that day — which, falling on May 1, is International Workers' Day.

Unclear is how widespread and disruptive the strike call will prove to be. The organizers lack centralization for such a strike, and assessing how widespread worker sentiment is in favor of such an action is difficult.

While these same companies are making record profits, a flyer circulated on social media by strike organizers highlights the conditions workers are facing on the job. The Intercept first reported on the strike.

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“The protective gear they’ve offered us is a joke, and the paid leave they’ve promised us is really hard to get, which many workers don’t have health insurance and cannot afford to go to the doctor,” Vanessa Bain, a lead organizer of the walkout, told Motherboard. “May Day is the day you don’t go to work or buy things or pay rent,” she added. “To consumers, we’re saying: ‘Don’t buy from these companies on May 1. Don’t empower them with your dollars.’ That’s what we need for an effective general strike.”

USA Today also reported on the work action.

Amazon responded to the call for the strike and boycott.

“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," a spokesperson from Amazon told Motherboard in response to news of the May Day walkout.

In a statement to Patch Friday afternoon, an Amazon spokesperson said that while there was "tremendous media coverage of today's protests we see no measurable impact on operations," and that the majority of the company's 840,000 employees were at work as usual.

"Our focus remains on protecting associates in our operations network with extensive measures including distributing face masks, disinfectant wipes, hand sanitizer, implementing temperature checks, operating with strict social distancing protocols, and recognizing their contributions with additional pay and leading benefits," the Amazon spokesperson said in the statement.

Workers are seeking improvements in personal protective gear, health care benefits, paid leave and hazard pay.

Led by Smalls, dozens of organizers have been planning the logistics of the walkout over Zoom calls in recent days, Vice News reports.

"We are acting in conjunction with workers at Amazon, Target, Instacart and other companies for International Workers' Day to show solidarity with other essential workers in our struggle for better protections and benefits in the pandemic," Daniel Steinbrook, a Whole Foods employee and strike organizer, told The Intercept.

"Our team has been diligently working to offer new policies, guidelines, product features, resources, increased bonuses and personal protective equipment to ensure the health and safety of shoppers during this critical time," an Instacart spokeswoman told Business Insider. "We welcome all feedback from shoppers, and we will continue to enhance their experience and ensure this important community is supported."

A Whole Foods spokesperson disputed that the protest resulted in any absenteeism among its workers.

"Statements made by this group misrepresent the full extent of Whole Foods Market's actions in response to this crisis and do not represent the collective voice of our more than 95,000 Team Members," the spokesperson told Business Insider, adding that Whole Foods has increased pay and benefits, enhanced cleaning measures and provided protective gear for workers.

A Target spokesperson said the company has taken a number of steps directed at improving working conditions, including increased pay for hourly workers, bonuses for store managers, expanded sick pay policies (such as 30 days of sick pay for elderly, at-risk and pregnant employees), protective equipment, and social distancing measures, Business Insider reported.

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