Some employees at Whole Foods Market nationwide executed a work stoppage.
Workers fro, Whole Foods Market stopped working March 31st amid concerns about contracting and spreading the COVID-19 virus between co-workers and customers.
According to USA Today, Whole Foods workers had originally scheduled May 1, International Workers’ Day, as the date to stage a sickout, in which they call in to say the won’t come to work that day. But concerns about contracting and spreading the coronavirus led them to move up the daylong strike.
“Many cities and states have effectively shut down, making us literal emergency workers,” the group said in a statement. “The level of risk combined with the inflated profits from the past few weeks mean that us grocery store workers need to be fairly compensated, as well as given an option to self-quarantine without fear of being evicted.” The protest by some Whole Foods employees who “called out” to not report to work Tuesday had “no operational impact” and service continued at “all of our stores without interruption,” the company said in a statement to USA TODAY.
Chains like Wegmans and Walmart have quietly implemented COVID-19 work benefits like paid sick leave and sneeze guards. No major worker protests there.
