We are just asking to be fairly compensated for our time during these unprecedented times. This is to ensure that any time spent on mandated actives that are necessary for my employment, will be paid.

We believe that those of us on the frontline of the Cheesecake Factory have not been treated fairly or compensated adequately. While the company has come through the pandemic with record profits, we have not seen the gains that our labor produced nor been adequately protected from the risks we are taking on by working directly with the public each day.

These issues are continuing to gain media attention, and publications such as The Wall Street Journal, The American Prospect, and NBC News have platformed the voices of Sonic workers. In the wake of this global health crisis, fewer workers are willing to tolerate these conditions. Soon there will be no choice but to take workers' demands seriously.

In order to help stop the spread of this virus and keep everyone safe, we are on the frontlines daily in preventing the spread of COVID-19 infections across NYC, one of the most populated cities. We do this with compassion, empathy and integrity. We can all say that we take pride in doing some of the most important work during this pandemic by helping to fight the spread of COVID-19 as Contact Trace Monitors & Case Investigators. We are notifying the community and their loved ones on a number of resources and offering them public health guidance. We sometimes play the role of disease detective, social work and therapist, yet we are severely underpaid for our contracted or hired roles. We are under immense stress because of abuse of power, toxic workplace culture, lack of transparency and misclassification of employment status. As Contact Trace Monitors & Case Investigators, it's time that we all unite in signing this petition. Please feel free to share with your fellow coworkers and ONLY use personal email address when sharing. Call To Action: ***If these matters are not addressed within 45 days from today, we all agree that this petition be escalated to the media and/or higher government officials***

Over the course of the last year, gig workers have risked our health, our lives, and the safety of our families to provide essential services to our communities. Gig workers are intentionally misclassified as independent contractors by our employers, not just to cheat us out of earning minimum wage, but also to skip the tab for workers’ compensation, sick pay, employer-sponsored healthcare, paid family leave, and unemployment insurance. Throughout the pandemic, while risking our health, and our lives, gig companies (Uber, Lyft, Instacart, DoorDash and Postmates) spent an astonishing $205,000,000 to subvert our rights to proper classification, and they won. During a pandemic in which our labor was deemed essential, we were simultaneously stripped of even the most basic rights of employment. We've included stories of gig workers that lost their lives while working, leaving their families unprotected and utterly vulnerable. Lynn Murray, 62, was viciously gunned down in the mass shooting at King Soopers in Boulder, Colorado. https://www.denverpost.com/2021/03/23/boulder-shooting-victim-lynn-murray/. According to the Denver Post, Lynn, a beloved wife, and mother of two, was a former photo director who previously worked for big-name magazines like Glamour, Marie Claire, and Cosmopolitan. In her retirement, she was a gig worker who shopped for Instacart. She was brutally murdered while filling an Instacart order. Mohammad Anwar, 66, was fatally attacked in Washington, D.C. Mohammad was a father of three and grandfather of four and was violently murdered while delivering an order for UberEats. https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/two-girls-13-and-15-used-stun-gun-in-fatal-armed-carjacking-near-nationals-park-police-say/2617947/  Ryan Munsie Graham, 31, was murdered while delivering for UberEats in Haltom City, Texas. Ryan left behind a husband and three small children. https://kvia.com/news/texas/2021/01/30/texas-mom-of-3-working-side-job-as-uber-eats-driver-allegedly-killed-by-14-year-old-boys/ Timothy Allen, 65, murdered while delivering packages for Amazon Flex in West Dallas, Texas. Timothy was an extremely talented musician. https://www.fox4news.com/news/trackdown-help-identify-persons-of-interest-in-timothy-allens-murder Yusuf Ozgur, 56, was a treasured husband and father of two. Yusuf was murdered while picking up an order for DoorDash in Manassas, Virginia. https://people.com/crime/doordash-delivery-man-killed-christmas-robbery-dennys/ Cherno Ceesay, 28, was robbed and murdered while driving for Uber in Issaquah, Washington. https://www.q13fox.com/news/couple-accused-of-stabbing-killing-uber-driver-in-issaquah Yousef Al-Gabri, 56, was murdered in Detroit, Michigan, after picking up a passenger for Uber. Yousef is survived by his four children. https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/local/2021/03/12/detroit-man-charged-with-1st-degree-murder-in-shooting-death-of-uber-driver/ When Instacart Shopper, Lynn Murray, was killed in the mass shooting at King Soopers in Boulder, CO, while filling an Instacart order, her family did not receive the same benefits that were extended to grocery store workers that were killed during the massacre. If Lynn were properly classified as an employee, her family would receive occupational death benefits that all Colorado employees are entitled to like survivor benefits and funeral benefits. She would have also qualified for life insurance, which Instacart offers to its properly classified employees. Even in the most extreme cases, gig companies have demonstrated that they won’t properly step up to honor the rights and protections afforded to properly classified workers. Gig work is dangerous work. Even before the pandemic, “Uber and Lyft drivers face fatal risks that are 1.1 and 2.6 times the fatality rate for police officers and firefighters. The corresponding estimates for Grubhub are 2.0 and 4.4.” https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/amp/Open-Forum-Driving-for-Uber-Lyft-GrubHub-and-14123731.php Undoubtedly, as gig workers were declared essential workers and still expected to show up, overwhelmingly unprotected, the pandemic has only added insult to injury. With our occupational risks of death being higher than first responders, there is no doubt that we need the full host of occupational injury and death protections provided through workers’ compensation.  When gig workers die at work we die without security, and often our families must rely on the generosity of strangers and crowdfunding to even cover funeral expenses. Due to the high-profile nature of Lynn Murray’s brutal murder, Instacart publicly donated $50,000 to a GoFundMe for her family. Gig companies pocket hundreds of millions of dollars they should have paid annually into state-run workers’ compensation programs. Any token donations to families are always a fraction of a cent on the dollar of what they should be paying to ensure workers are protected in our workplaces. Make no mistake, a company that deprives its workers of essential workplace protections through intentional misclassification deserves no accolades for a one-time donation to a single-family. We need the security of guaranteed benefits, crowdsourcing is not a safety net. What happens when the death of a gig worker is not part of national headlines? What is the recourse for grieving families when they’re left to seek damages from some of the wealthiest and most resourced corporations in the nation?  The answer is infuriating. Families are left to fend for themselves in addition to the trauma and grief of unexpectedly losing a family member. We encourage you to read more about gig workers that have lost their lives while working and remember that they represent only a fraction of the actual human cost of gig work.

We are Trader Joe’s workers writing to demand that the employee benefits introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic be made permanent and that healthcare coverage be immediately and permanently issued to all TJ’s workers risking their health and safety in stores. When the Covid-19 pandemic started last March, Trader Joe’s workers across the country spoke up and demanded that the company institute hazard pay in order to compensate us for the tremendous risk we have undertaken by continuing to work. The company eventually gave us a two-dollar "Thank You Pay" increase and raised the employee discount to 20%. However, many stores have cut hours during the pandemic, which has resulted in a sustained loss of income for many employees. When our "Thank You Pay” was increased to four dollars in February to comply with local laws, management made up costs by getting rid of the permanent raises employees would normally receive in the summer. Ironically, taking away the opportunity for a raise will cost the most loyal, full-time employees thousands of dollars in future income while Trader Joe’s returns to pre-pandemic level sales and profits. After only three months, the company announced that on May 1st they will take away our additional two dollars, and we fear the rest of the “Thank You Pay” is soon to follow. To add insult to injury, as the pandemic continues into spring, a huge percentage of us are vulnerable after losing our company-sponsored health insurance at the end of December when the company maintained an hour requirement many workers couldn’t meet due to cut hours, sick loved ones, and unsafe exposure in the workplace. In some cases, employees failed to meet health insurance qualifications due to quarantining or recovering after contracting the virus themselves. As essential workers who have risked ourselves and our loved ones for the last year, we should not be left without healthcare. We deserve more than thanks. We have continued to work tirelessly, with smiles on our faces, to provide our communities with essential services and resources. The experience of working through the pandemic has been traumatic for many. What was once a normal shift can now bring on extreme panic and anxiety for many crew members. Countless employees have gotten sick with Covid-19 contracted at Trader Joe’s and some of our coworkers have lost their lives. Though Trader Joe’s claims “integrity” as a core company value, as far as we are aware, TJ’s executives have received full salaries, and possible bonuses, this past year with the option of working safely from home. We deserve thanks, but the company’s actions feel like an insult——every measure the company has taken to provide an additional “benefit” during the pandemic has been accompanied by an action that shifts the loss back on crew members. We crew the ship and we insist that Trader Joe’s meet these demands: -The “Thank You Pay” be made a permanent raise of 4 dollars an hour for all Trader Joe’s crew members, including those on extended leave of absence. -The 20% Crew Member Discount be made permanent. -Reinstate full healthcare coverage for all current employees and expand healthcare coverage to all part- and full-time employees. If TJ workers are interested in learning more about how to take action at work, reach out to an EWOC organizer today at workerorganizing.org/talk-with-an-organizer.

While the COVID-19 vaccine is becoming more readily available across the country, Whole Foods workers are still getting sick! Management everywhere are allowing pre-pandemic crowd sizes, despite the country still only being a third vaccinated. Mask mandates are rarely enforced. This isn’t new, Whole Foods workers have been reporting all pandemic that management teams have consistently put workers in danger rather than enforce any meaningful safety protocols with customers. Whole Worker has received reports from workers who were lied to about cleaning crews coming in. We’ve gotten reports of stores where as many as a quarter of store employees tested positive for COVID and where employees were only told to quarantine over a week after management knew they’d worked a shift with someone who had tested positive for COVID. We’ve even heard from stores where management forced employees to open their store without running water, and thus no working bathrooms or water to refill disinfectant, despite this being a violation of company policy, state law, and health codes. We’re tired of being put second in Whole Foods’ pursuit of profit and customer pleasing. No profit line is worth our health and safety. We deserve better and we demand safe working conditions! If you want to connect with other Whole Foods workers taking action for their health and safety reach out to us at https://workerorganizing.org/talk-with-an-organizer/ and a volunteer organizer will be in touch!

Sharon has caused multiple amazing employees to lose all motivation do their job, or to even show up for their job. The employees dread coming into work because they know the unfair situations in which we must work in. Sharon condones rude selfish behavior with her favoritism towards a single employee who refuses to follow our standards or even learn her duties to the fullest extent. Sharon let's her do anything she pleases, including treating the other staff like they are below her, doing the bare minimum and less of her duties, taking breaks and leaving whenever she wishes, spending most of her shifts on the phone, and then retaliates against the honest hardworking employees that speak up against the unfairness. She has caused our store to suffer and our guests to become disgruntled by the constant disruptions in our workplace. After months of asking for fair change, Sharon has done nothing but turn a blind eye to Jennifer's disturbances to the crew and retaliation against those who complain. Sharon is constantly mocking and spewing out profane and racial slurs against our customers, employees and anyone else who dares to speak against her personal views inside and even outside of the store. She is highly unprofessional and not fit to run a staff if she refuses to change her ways and drop the ongoing discrimination as well as exposing contagious employees to work shifts that she could easily fill with a healthy employee.

They make less than a server and do all the servers work for them. It’s not equal pay. And can’t live off 2.83 an hour.

The upcoming third wave and the spread of the mutations of the Corona virus that are more infectious demand for a strong response. Regular testing is an important measure to identify Covid clusters quickly, allow contact tracing, and thus help to keep the infection numbers low. We must do everything we can to have low infection numbers rates to prevent even more dangerous mutations!

Whole Foods can afford to do better. The grocery store chain and its parent company, Amazon, are raking in profits during the pandemic. To slow the spread of the virus among Whole Foods employees and customers, CEO John Mackey needs to immediately institute a permanent comprehensive paid leave policy. That includes guaranteed paid sick time, paid family and medical leave, and paid time off to be vaccinated. Join us and Whole Foods employees in calling on Whole Foods to live up to their virtues by giving their employees the opportunity to put their wellness and their families first now and in the future.

Almost exactly a year ago, we saw corporations calling grocery workers “heroes” — what a difference a year makes! A new company-wide policy on team member meal and rest periods which went into effect on February 8th has shortened our breaks from 15 minutes to 10. The policy change has affected different regions in different ways. Many stores offered two paid 15 minute breaks per shift - under the new policy, all they get is 10. Some stores offered workers a paid 30 minute lunch break - under the new policy, that break will no longer be paid. Whole Foods claims that they are doing this to “streamline regional processes and policies.” In reality, they are bringing every store in America down to the bare minimum. This policy was designed to offer us as little break time and as little pay as the law will permit. Jeff Bezos' net worth grew by $75 billion last year. Now Amazon/Whole Foods is forcing their lowest paid employees to sacrifice paid rest time on the job. Is this how we’re thanked for working through a pandemic? We risk our lives every day to keep these stores stocked and clean. We’ve earned our breaks! Let’s send a message to Amazon and Whole Foods: these changes are unacceptable. If you’re a Whole Foods worker and you want to fight back, reach out to us. Together, we can hold Whole Foods accountable for its unfair policies. In Solidarity, Whole Worker and the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee