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Amazon, Walmart, Target and other such company employees who are working on the COVID-19 pandemic’s frontlines planned a strike together on Friday, May 1, which is the International Workers’ Day. The strikers want to protest against unsafe conditions and lack of safety equipment from their employers. There are complains that most of the retail giants are not concerned about the safety of their workers.
Whole Foods, Amazon, Target, and Instacart workers are striking on May 1st pic.twitter.com/nwnMhxxffy
— Michael Sainato (@msainat1) April 22, 2020
The event was named as May Day General strike and it united employees from companies Amazon, Whole Foods, Shipt, FedEx, Walmart, Instacart, Target, etc. for a single purpose effort. They decided to plan a strike on this Sunday and walk out from their workplace with any excuse and protests with banners for their safety and protection in the COVID-19 pandemic.
What the Strikers’ Demands?
The main demand of strikers is to get compensation for all the unpaid time off since the COVID-19 outbreak happened in March. They also want hazard pay or sick leave pay for the duration coronavirus pandemic lasts. One of the main demands of workers is to get proper protective equipment along with cleaning supplies to sanitize the workplace. The strikers also want the companies to be transparent about the number of COVID-19 positive cases in the facilities.
Response from the Companies
Amazon, Whole Foods, Instacart, Target, Shipt and FedEx have made official statements regarding the May Day strike and have denied major allegations. Every company is saying that they have installed proper safety measures since early March and following strict safety guidelines.
The safety of our frontline workers is our highest priority and we are providing them with all the equipment need to stay safe from the COVID-19 pandemic. They also added that they are reaching to their families and providing basic supplies along with helping the community to make their image clean.
