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Whole Foods employees are staging a nationwide 'sick-out'

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Re: Whole Foods employees are staging a nationwide 'sick-out'

#61

Post by knodi123 »

amluto wrote: post #10
elicash wrote: post #3

Here's what they're asking for: https://www.coworker.org/petitions/global-retail-worker-sick... -Guaranteed paid leave for all workers who isolate or self-quarantine instead of coming to work. -Reinstatement of health care coverage for part-time and seasonal workers. -Increased FSA funds to cover coronavirus testing and treatment for all team members, including part-time and seasonal. -Guaranteed hazard pay in the fo…

> -Guaranteed paid leave for all workers who isolate or self-quarantine instead of coming to work. This should be required by law of all employers. > -Immediate shutdown of any location where a worker tests positive for COVID-19. This seems like overkill. How about having all employees wear masks (not N95) and cleaning the store thoroughly if someone tests positive? Or do they mean a few-hour or one-day shutdown?

>> -Guaranteed paid leave for all workers who isolate or self-quarantine instead of coming to work.

> This should be required by law of all employers.

All businesses should be required to tell every employee "You don't have to come in to work for the duration of the crisis, unless you feel like it. But you'll get paid regardless."?

Re: Whole Foods employees are staging a nationwide 'sick-out'

#62

Post by elicash »

knodi123 wrote: post #60
elicash wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd bet that if Amazon agreed to all demands but that one that the workers who organized this would be ECSTATIC. There should be negotiation, back-and-forth. What's frustrating, as somebody not affiliated with the organizing here but has been in similar circumstances, is when the company won't even come to the table to bargain.

> I'd bet that if Amazon agreed to all demands but that one that the workers who organized this would be ECSTATIC. Yeah, except item 1 is "Guaranteed paid leave for all workers who isolate or self-quarantine instead of coming to work." I imagine that if Amazon agreed to that one demand, the workers would be ECSTATIC, because it allows them to get paid whether or not they decide to keep coming to work. I'm not diminis…

My employer is allowing us to use our paid leave for this purpose, and we haven't seen this. You still only have a limited amount of paid leave per year and so you can use it for this but it means if you get sick later you can't use it for that.

Not sure why you added the word "unrestricted." Seems like bad faith.

Re: Whole Foods employees are staging a nationwide 'sick-out'

#63

Post by NovemberWhiskey »

alistairSH wrote: post #57
NovemberWhiskey wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Guaranteed paid leave for all workers who isolate or self-quarantine instead of coming to work. Does anyone have any idea how they're supposed to operate their business if they have to pay workers who don't work? I mean, they would have to hire replacement workers - who also don't need to come to work? Or are the replacement workers supposed to be second-class vs. the original workers?

The same way any other employer is able to offer PTO? It should just be a cost of doing business (and is in much of Europe).

... which is limited; often pro-rated in the first year of employment; and has to be scheduled in agreement with your employer so that not all critical staff go out on vacation at once.

How are these things the same?

Re: Whole Foods employees are staging a nationwide 'sick-out'

#64

Post by leetcrew »

alistairSH wrote: post #57
NovemberWhiskey wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Guaranteed paid leave for all workers who isolate or self-quarantine instead of coming to work. Does anyone have any idea how they're supposed to operate their business if they have to pay workers who don't work? I mean, they would have to hire replacement workers - who also don't need to come to work? Or are the replacement workers supposed to be second-class vs. the original workers?

The same way any other employer is able to offer PTO? It should just be a cost of doing business (and is in much of Europe).

it's hard to assess whether the demand is reasonable when it doesn't specify a max number of days or accrual rate.

also PTO is usually subject to approval, not just choosing to stay home whenever.

Re: Whole Foods employees are staging a nationwide 'sick-out'

#65

Post by SketchySeaBeast »

knodi123 wrote: post #60
elicash wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd bet that if Amazon agreed to all demands but that one that the workers who organized this would be ECSTATIC. There should be negotiation, back-and-forth. What's frustrating, as somebody not affiliated with the organizing here but has been in similar circumstances, is when the company won't even come to the table to bargain.

> I'd bet that if Amazon agreed to all demands but that one that the workers who organized this would be ECSTATIC. Yeah, except item 1 is "Guaranteed paid leave for all workers who isolate or self-quarantine instead of coming to work." I imagine that if Amazon agreed to that one demand, the workers would be ECSTATIC, because it allows them to get paid whether or not they decide to keep coming to work. I'm not diminis…

There is a fair amount of good faith that would be involved with that, yes. Given testing is still scant, how does one remedy this? I think we can all agree that if someone is sick they should stay home, and ideally everyone who needs should get a test, but I just don't know how to separate the ill from the faking.

Re: Whole Foods employees are staging a nationwide 'sick-out'

#66

Post by ahoy »

nn35 wrote: post #11
elicash wrote: post #3

Here's what they're asking for: https://www.coworker.org/petitions/global-retail-worker-sick... -Guaranteed paid leave for all workers who isolate or self-quarantine instead of coming to work. -Reinstatement of health care coverage for part-time and seasonal workers. -Increased FSA funds to cover coronavirus testing and treatment for all team members, including part-time and seasonal. -Guaranteed hazard pay in the fo…

-Immediate shutdown of any location where a worker tests positive for COVID-19. This seems likely to shut down the majority of Whole Foods stores in short order. An unreasonable request, IMO. Grocery stores are genuinely essential to society and the death rate for I do think high-risk employees should basically be allowed to stay home, though.

the first rule of negotiation is to set your initial ask high

Re: Whole Foods employees are staging a nationwide 'sick-out'

#67

Post by nabnob »

m0zg wrote: post #19

I don't understand. WF charges 2-3x as much as a "regular" grocery store and prides itself on "ethics" and "sustainability". Why are we even having this discussion? Why aren't those employees fairly compensated and protected?

There's no such thing as ethical consumerism. That image of "ethics" and "sustainability" is just branding to appeal to woke liberals who have the disposable income to buy their groceries at Whole Foods.

Re: Whole Foods employees are staging a nationwide 'sick-out'

#68

Post by ahoy »

m0zg wrote: post #19

I don't understand. WF charges 2-3x as much as a "regular" grocery store and prides itself on "ethics" and "sustainability". Why are we even having this discussion? Why aren't those employees fairly compensated and protected?

"Why aren't those employees fairly compensated and protected?"

I think we all know why.

Re: Whole Foods employees are staging a nationwide 'sick-out'

#69

Post by matz1 »

pjc50 wrote: post #43
matz1 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its not going to work, if you pay people to not work, who is going to work then ? Money will become useless.

Paying people to not (come into) work is pretty much critical to not getting a huge number of people (not necessarily the same people!) killed in a pandemic.

Then who is going to work if you can get paid for not working ?
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