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.

Dining workers are essential workers and right now their labor is not valued by the administration. The college said they could afford to pay us $100/hr but that we don't deserve it. Especially during a pandemic, we can't feel pressured to work while sick. We need to get back to the bargaining table and win a fair contract!

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!

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.

A very large portion of your call representatives are on the verge of quitting and live in constant fear of being fired. We are mentally drained, exhausted, frustrated, and our mental and physical health is suffering. Unfulfilled promises to IMPROVE and THINGS ARE GETTING WORSE INSTEAD OF BETTER!!!!

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.

Hops Burger Bar has already had COVID-19 cases at multiple of their locations and have failed to properly notify their workers, or respond in a timely way! Management delays means the virus has time to spread.

Employees working in this company are being overlooked, discriminated, underpaid and overworked to the point where individuals get unhealthy. Employees no longer feel valued & get wrongfully terminated. Not a safe work environment.

Bright Horizons promised to respond to worker demands by September 30th but they have not done so. We must hold them accountable. We were recently informed that the Fedkids center at 26 Federal Plaza in Lower Manhattan will no longer be operated by Bright Horizons. On the company call that was held two weeks ago, Bright Horizons representatives did not let us ask questions or even speak in the meeting. It was brief and insulting to the many teachers who dedicated years to the company and left us with more questions than ever before. Many of us have been employees of Bright Horizons for years, some upwards of a decade. We have spent the past several months furloughed and awaiting communication but continuing to stay in touch with children and their families via Zoom, only to discover that in a matter of a couple of weeks we need to decide whether we are continuing with Bright Horizons or seeking employment at our own center. We are expected to make this decision with very little information and no guarantee of employment if we choose to stay with Bright Horizons or join with the new company at Federal Plaza.

We are the hardworking men and women who feed students day-in and day-out at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. We have a union contract that ensures we are paid fairly, treated with respect and provided with benefits that help us take care of our families. We can't allow these protections to be threatened by the PA State System of Higher Education's (PASSHE) merger of the food service operations at IUP, Edinboro University, Slippery Rock University, and Clarion University. Starting next academic year (2021-22), one food service contractor will feed students at all four campuses under one agreement. Food service companies have submitted their bids and the winning company will be chosen soon. We call on Dr. Driscoll and Chancellor Greenstein to demand that the winning company honor our existing union contract as well as the contracts of our union brothers and sisters at Edinboro and Slippery Rock. The winning company should also grant workers at Clarion University a fair process for joining a union so that they too can negotiate for fair wages, benefits and working conditions. We are prepared to take action if this arrangement threatens our union contract. We are well aware of how unfairly many nonunion food service workers are treated and how poorly they are compensated. We will do whatever it takes to preserve the fair treatment, pay and respect we have fought for!

Amazon has made numerous statements in the recent pass saying that it supports Black lives - for instance in a twitter post it wrote: "The inequitable and brutal treatment of Black people in our country must stop. Together we stand in solidarity with the Black community — our employees, customers, and partners — in the fight against systemic racism and injustice." Black and Latinx people are significantly more likely to be impacted by coronavirus than people of other backgrounds. This is the result of the systemic racism and injustice Amazon claims to stand in solidarity with us against. If that's the case, they should be willing to forego the service of this facility long enough to ensure that workers are as safe as they possibly can be. 1 preventable death is unacceptable. Shut down this facility in defense of Black lives!

We're facing unexpected challenges and risks by working in long-term care during this pandemic. We do our jobs to make sure our residents receive the best possible care, and we want to make sure we're safe and cared for in the process.