Workers from the four companies are hoping to act in conjunction with one another, Smalls said.
“The reason behind incorporating all these other entities is because we’re not going to stop mobilizing until we have our demands met,” Smalls said. “We all have one common goal right now and that’s to feel safe and protected at work.”
Workers are demanding the mandatory shutdown of buildings with positive cases for a minimum of 14 days. The list of demands also includes more personal protective equipment (PPE) and cleaning supplies, paid leave for employees waiting on COVID-19 tests, hazard pay for the duration of the pandemic, company transparency on the number of cases in facilities, unlimited unpaid time to be extended to June 1, and reinstatement of employees terminated for refusal to work during the pandemic.
According to a statement provided to Newsweek by Whole Foods, the company has implemented increased pay and benefits, as well as new cleaning and social distancing protocols for their workers. “Statements made by this group misrepresent the full extent of Whole Food Market’s actions in response to this crisis and do not represent the collective voice of our more than 95,000 Team Members,” said a Whole Foods Market spokesperson.
“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,” Instacart said in a statement.
“We want the truth out there. We want the public to know the amount of cases these buildings really have,” said Smalls. “The best case scenario is for them to close down the buildings that have cases in them. The worst thing they could do is not do anything. People are actually passing away and dying from this virus.”
Update, 04/29/20, 1:23 p.m.: This story has been updated to remove a statement from Target.
