April 26, 2020 Your Neighborhood — Your News®
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‘They’re putting people’s lives at risk’
Rego Park Trader Joe’s employee claims management lacks transparency with COVID-19 information
BY ANGÉLICA ACEVEDO
An employee at the only Trader
Joe’s in Queens said there are five
other employees who tested positive
for COVID-19 — but management
only informed them of the
cases weeks after knowing they
were infected.
The Trader Joe’s employee, who
asked to remain anonymous in
fear of losing their job, said their
captain sent the crew an email on
Wednesday, April 15, with vague
information of the positive cases.
The email, shared with QNS,
focused on an employee who tested
positive but emphasized the employee
had no symptoms while they
worked, and that they were not at
work for 11 days prior to testing
positive. The captain then briefly
mentioned that four other employees,
who were on voluntary leave
for three weeks, had also tested
positive.
The anonymous Trader Joe’s
employee noted that the captain
did not mention a date or indication
that the store would be closed in order
to clean.
“They’re just not giving a real
time frame for these cases,” the
employee said. “They should have
told us these things when they happened.
We’re all adults. If things
are bad, we all have thick skin and
we’ll deal with it. If someone’s sick,
tell us they’re sick.”
The employee, who’s worked
at Trader Joe’s for several years,
mentioned the store was closed for
what management called a “full
store cleaning” on Sunday, April
5, in addition to periodic overnight
cleanings to prevent full store closures
— including one on April 15
in “high-traffic areas” of the Rego
Park store.
Prior to the April 15 email from
the captain, the employee said
another co-worker “happened to
Trader Joe’s located at 9030 Metropolitan Ave. in Rego Park. Photo via Google Maps
look” on the official Trader Joe’s
website and learned the Rego
Park location at 9030 Metropolitan
Ave. would be temporarily close on
Thursday, April 23.
“My managers didn’t come up
and say, ‘Hey crew we’re closing!’
in one of our huddles,” the employee
said. “It’s unfortunate to hear.
Trader Joe’s hasn’t been proactive;
they’ve been reactive. It’s dangerous
for everyone who works there
and for our customers. They’re putting
people’s lives at risk.”
The national supermarket
chain recently made headlines not
only because of the viral images of
long lines with customers waiting
to shop — at the Rego Park store, for
instance, the employee said customers
wait up to two hours in a line
that passes their parking lot and
extends from Trotting Course Lane
to Metropolitan Avenue all the way
to Woodhaven Boulevard, rain or
shine — but also because of workers
expressing concerns that not
enough is being done to keep them
safe. The Rego Park employee recalled
how workers had to fight to
get management to allow them to
use gloves and how they sent some
people home for wearing them,
even after COVID-19 was named a
pandemic in March.
The employee said management
worried people would feel uncomfortable
seeing the crew, known
for their top-notch and chipper customer
service, wearing gloves or
masks.
“Now that Gov. Andrew Cuomo
said we all have to wear masks,
that’s all flipped,” the employee
said.
Trader Joe’s began enforcing
employees and customers to wear
masks as of Thursday, April 16. Additionally,
they have implemented
wellness checks prior to workers’
shifts to ensure they don’t inadvertently
expose co-workers; and
reduced store hours; suspended the
use of reusable bags. Trader Joe’s
is installing temporary plexiglass
barriers at all cash registers and
enforcing social distancing measures.
They’ve also increased paid sick
leave and have allotted bonuses,
after a group of employees began
a petition calling for hazard pay
during the pandemic. The Rego
Park employee said initially, they
gave them $2 per every hour they
worked based on a month period
from February to March.
“But bonuses are taxed at about
45 percent in New York City,” the
employee said. “Some people received
$150, or as little as $81 added
to their checks. There wasn’t a single
person who was happy.”
Now, the employee said the
company has another method of
giving workers bonuses during the
pandemic that won’t be taxed at the
bonus rate.
But with that petition, organized
by “Trader Joe’s Union Coalition,”
the company grew concerned
of possible unionizing efforts — so
much so that it prompted a two-page
letter from Trader Joe’s CEO Dan
Bane, shared with QNS, in which
he calls their demands “a distraction.”
However, Bane added that
once the pandemic is over, they’ll
have a union vote at any store if 30
percent of crew members want it.
But the Rego Park employee
believed the petition didn’t call for
a union, and that unionizing at
Trader Joe’s ultimately “doesn’t
make sense” due to the benefits the
company already offers their employees.
“I remember during our team
huddles, managers would tell us,
‘None of you are forced to be here,
if you don’t want to be,’” the Rego
Park employee said.
But the employee noted that for
many Trader Joe’s workers, this is
their only source of income, so even
if they do want to stay at home or
self-isolate, they can’t.
“Prior to COVID-19, you would
come to work if you had a migraine,
fever, broke a pinky,” the employee
said. “And they’re right, we aren’t
forced to be there, but what’s the
other option. I can’t afford to miss
a day of work.”
The employee said that despite
all of this, they believe Trader Joe’s
is a great place to work. They just
want to start a conversation, and
have management be more transparent
in a time when clear communication
is most important.
“This whole experience has
been very strange,” the Rego Park
employee said. “It’s even hard to
wrap my brain around the idea that
we’re on the frontlines. But that’s
why they need to give us the appropriate
tools. Give us more than we
need, even. This company is making
millions every day. If we have to
close the store one or three times to
clean, or whatever, then that should
be fine.”
Trader Joe’s did not respond to
QNS’ requests for comment.
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