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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'

#81

Post by alistairSH »

leetcrew wrote: post #64
alistairSH wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

How would one go about obtaining prior permission for sick leave? You don't know you're going to get COVID, or break an arm, or whatever.

It doesn't seem unreasonable to me for an employee to be able to call in and say "Hey, [I have | my kid has] [condition], I need some time off" (and get that time off without fearing for their job, house, and food supply).

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

#82

Post by leetcrew »

alistairSH wrote: post #81
leetcrew wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

How would one go about obtaining prior permission for sick leave? You don't know you're going to get COVID, or break an arm, or whatever. It doesn't seem unreasonable to me for an employee to be able to call in and say "Hey, [I have | my kid has] [condition], I need some time off" (and get that time off without fearing for their job, house, and food supply).

this is part of my point. sick leave isn't equivalent to PTO.

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

#83

Post by elicash »

tracker1 wrote: post #4

Wonder if grocery store workers will largely be forced to unionize and fall under similar terms as airline industry with regards to limitations on a strike. "Essential work"

Grocery stores and their workers could bargain over these details however they wanted. CBAs look very different from one another.

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

#84

Post by diob »

__s wrote: post #47
diob wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they're essential to society, do you support free medical care for all the employees who get sick during this time? Do you support paying for the ongoing costs of an employee that suffers the rest of their life due to complications or after effects from COVID-19?

Yes (granted I'm a Canadian who supports countries covering medical expenses for all citizens), but are we also going to close hospitals if any of their employees test positive?

Glad to hear it.

Of course not, but companies need to be smart about it. Make sure the same people work the same shifts together, that way if one of the employees in a shift tests positive, you can isolate and test the others in the shift while continuing work in the meantime.

And of course, for things like grocery stores, focus heavily on pickup versus having customers come into the store.

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

#85

Post by diob »

alistairSH wrote: post #55
diob wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they're essential to society, do you support free medical care for all the employees who get sick during this time? Do you support paying for the ongoing costs of an employee that suffers the rest of their life due to complications or after effects from COVID-19?

Yes. As should everybody else. Lack of health care access in the US is shameful.

Definitely agree. We pretend it's an economic issue to have universal health care, but really it would help our economy in so many ways.

The only ones it's an economic downer for are the insurance companies.

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

#86

Post by zzzeek »

matz1 wrote: post #29
zzzeek wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

this fails to consider that if an employee of the store tests positive that has an implication for the store itself as well as all the food and products being sold to the public.

Yes but the risk is lower then not having grocery store at all. People still need to eat.

right well to solve that problem, you close down one store and not all of them. only the one where someone tested positive and only until that store can be cleaned. There are no towns on the planet that have only a Whole Foods and not 350 other food stores. you open the store again once it's been deep cleaned. nobody starves and that's a total straw man argument.

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

#87

Post by Retric »

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…

It’s not ‘full pay’.

-Guaranteed hazard pay in the form of double pay during our scheduled hours.

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

#89

Post by MivLives »

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…

Did Whole Foods finally remove health insurance for people on part time 20? Or are they asking it to be applied to non part time 20 workers.

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

#90

Post by dr-detroit »

ttul wrote: post #13

I'm sure that one of the long term outcomes of the COVID-19 pandemic will be a (potentially short-lived) resurgence in unionization and a general leftward shift in global politics. This move to the left will coincide with governments continuing to exercise greater authority over the population and economy. Our reality after COVID-19 will look more like 1970s Britain.

I live in a blue state and the pendulum is swinging the other way unfortunately. Unions are an easy scapegoat and openly demonized in media, academics, and on social media. They took away everybody's pensions.
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