May Day Strikes Hit Amazon, Instacart, and Target Over Virus Safety
Essential workers at major retailers and delivery companies stage a coordinated May Day strike to demand better coronavirus protections. The protesters urge customers to boycott the affected services for the entire day.
Workers from Amazon, Whole Foods, Instacart, FedEx, Target, and Walmart participate in coordinated work stoppages on May 1st to protest unsafe working conditions during the coronavirus outbreak. The strike coincides with International Workers' Day and sees thousands of employees walking off the job nationwide. Organizers encourage customers to boycott these stores and services for the entire day to show solidarity with the frontline workers.
The protesters demand better practices and equipment to protect themselves from contracting COVID-19 on the job. Specific requests vary by company, with Instacart workers asking for proper distribution of personal protective equipment and Whole Foods employees demanding that locations with positive cases shut down for 14 days. Amazon delivery drivers are also requesting professional cleaning services to sanitize vehicles at the end of each shift instead of being given supplies to do it themselves.
Amazon employees are additionally pushing back against the company's refusal to disclose the total number of workers who test positive for the virus. Currently, Amazon only communicates positive cases directly to the affected employees rather than sharing broader data with the rest of the workforce. As part of this May Day action, strikers call on the tech giant to be fully transparent and honest about the scale of infections within its facilities.