USA TODAY International Edition
Amazon, Target workers lead nationwide protests
Fearing they're vulnerable to the coronavirus, employees plan strikes and sickouts.
Amazon and Target workers, on the front lines of COVID- 19, are leading nationwide efforts to draw attention to the health risks they face delivering groceries and other critical supplies to Americans.
Their approach? Planned sickouts. More than 350 Amazon warehouse workers in 50 locations pledged to call out from their jobs starting Tuesday, according to Athena, a coalition representing workers.
Target workers are planning a mass sickout May 1, which is International Workers Day, said Adam Ryan, a liaison with Target Workers Unite, an employee activist group.
“The safety measures that Target has rolled out are half- measures, and they haven’t done enough to prioritize safety. They’re more concerned about the sales than protecting us workers,” said Ryan, a part- time worker at a Tar
“( Target is) more concerned about the sales than protecting us workers.” Adam Ryan, Target Workers Unite
get in Christiansburg, Virginia. “If we don’t push them further, they’re not going to take further measures.”
At least 30 grocery store workers have died after being exposed to the virus in the U. S., and another 3,000 have called out of work after showing signs of illness or other complications, according to the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union.
This is the not the first time Amazon workers have staged walkouts. On March 30, some workers at a warehouse on Staten Island, New York, walked out during lunch.
But this week’s efforts are being billed as the biggest mass action yet. Workers also have a sickout planned for Friday to protest the treatment of warehouse workers and the firings of two tech workers who had criticized the company’s climate policies and workplace safety conditions.
The Athena coalition says there are more than 130 warehouses where Amazon workers have contracted COVID- 19, including some warehouses with more than 30 confirmed cases.
Amazon recently confirmed the death of one worker in California, though it’s unclear how he was infected with the coronavirus. The company said it has taken a number of measures to protect workers, including issuing masks and temperature checks.
Athena counters that the face masks have been provided to only a fraction of the workforce and are of poor quality.
Amazon spokesperson Rachael Lighty told USA TODAY, “Nothing is more important than the safety of our teams. Our employees are heroes fighting for their communities and helping people get critical items they need in this crisis.”
Target reduced store hours March 18 and started limiting the number of shoppers allowed in stores on April 4. The Minneapolis- based retailer is providing employees with masks but isn’t requiring that workers wear them.
Ryan says that the measures don’t go far enough and that since the stimulus checks have begun arriving, more shoppers have been coming out.
“People aren’t taking it seriously,” he said. “It’s almost like we’re in a preCOVID situation right now and not in the middle of a pandemic.”
Target outlined some measures it has taken, including promoting social distancing and metering traffic.