“The coronavirus outbreak is among us, causing many businesses to temporarily close, while some businesses such as Office Depot, Wendy’s, and Safeway to name a few, have been deemed “essential” and are to remain open. But what does this mean for their employees?”
— milo trejo, 7th grade
The coronavirus outbreak is among us, causing many businesses to temporarily close, while some businesses such as Office Depot, Wendy’s, and Safeway to name a few, have been deemed “essential” and are to remain open. But what does this mean for their employees?
While you may think that essential businesses would pump up their benefits to help employees get through these trying times, some are doing the exact opposite. Companies such as Dillards, McDonalds, and Joann Fabric Stores are taking advantage of their employees, by forcing them to work up to 20 more hours weekly with the only incentive being a free lunch.
McDonald's employees in South San Francisco protested outside of the restaurant due to a “lack of safety measures.”
This brings us to the next question how essential are some of these “essential” businesses? How important is it to buy a spool of threa from Joann Fabrics or get a new suit from Dillards in the middle of quarantine? Is this another string of bad decisions made by the U.S. government in their dismal attempt to stop the spread of COVID-19?
However, some the business that are mistreating workers really are essential. A nurse in Oklahoma City was told he had to remove his mask so as not to create “panic and fear within the staff and patients.” He is now suing the hospital.
Similar occurrences have happened when an employee at a hospital in Colorado warned her coworkers to try and wear n95 masks instead of the surgical masks provided by the hospital and was promptly fired by Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
All in all, large corporations are taking advantage of their employees in these trying times, but the employees should(and some are) taking advantage of this time to fight back for rights they should have had before COVID-19 even started.
While you may think that essential businesses would pump up their benefits to help employees get through these trying times, some are doing the exact opposite. Companies such as Dillards, McDonalds, and Joann Fabric Stores are taking advantage of their employees, by forcing them to work up to 20 more hours weekly with the only incentive being a free lunch.
McDonald's employees in South San Francisco protested outside of the restaurant due to a “lack of safety measures.”
This brings us to the next question how essential are some of these “essential” businesses? How important is it to buy a spool of threa from Joann Fabrics or get a new suit from Dillards in the middle of quarantine? Is this another string of bad decisions made by the U.S. government in their dismal attempt to stop the spread of COVID-19?
However, some the business that are mistreating workers really are essential. A nurse in Oklahoma City was told he had to remove his mask so as not to create “panic and fear within the staff and patients.” He is now suing the hospital.
Similar occurrences have happened when an employee at a hospital in Colorado warned her coworkers to try and wear n95 masks instead of the surgical masks provided by the hospital and was promptly fired by Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
All in all, large corporations are taking advantage of their employees in these trying times, but the employees should(and some are) taking advantage of this time to fight back for rights they should have had before COVID-19 even started.
