Management must enforce COVID safety measures now (Frank Template Campaign)

We’re sharing a series of templates designed to help workers draft campaigns for organizing in the workplace. If you’re interested in using this campaign at work, join Frank for more resources.

By: Samantha Demby (contributor to Frank)
Website | Twitter

We demand that [ABC Store] (insert your company name here) protect its essential workers by enforcing coronavirus safety measures, including health screenings, face coverings and social distancing.

Our campaign

Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, we’ve risked our physical and emotional well-being and the safety of our loved ones to get essential items into the hands of thousands of customers. Whether you’re salaried or a contractor, an old-timer or a recent hire, each worker at [ABC Store] has played a vital role in caring for shoppers, stocking shelves, delivering packages and cleaning the premises.

But rather than reward employee dedication, [ABC Store] is putting our health on the line. Even as experts warn of a coronavirus surge in the region, management is easing common-sense measures like health screenings and social distancing. To boost profits for a few, HQ is sending us home after each shift worried sick about putting our families and communities at risk.

We all remember the fear we experienced when a stock room employee went home after showing symptoms of fever. It took three days and significant employee pressure for management to confirm that she was infected with Covid-19. Even worse, when several workers raised concerns they got unjustified warning on their records.

For our hard work and the protection of our rights, we deserve better. We deserve mandatory face coverings and social distancing policies enforced by management. We deserve health screenings, free testing and 24-hour notification of positive cases. And we deserve to voice safety concerns without fear of retaliation. Far from a big ask, these demands are the bare minimum for [ABC Store] to keep our community out of harm’s way.

Our demands

• Mandatory use of face coverings. [ABC Store] must post a sign at the entrance of all stores indicating a zero-tolerance policy for not wearing masks.
• Social distancing measures. These include occupancy limits, one-way aisles and barriers between cashiers and customers.
• Management enforcement. A manager must be assigned to enforce all coronavirus safety measures.
• Health screenings. All workers must pass a temperature check before each shift.
• Free testing. All workers must have access to free Covid-19 testing.
• 24-hour notification. Management must notify all workers of a confirmed Covid-19 case on the premises within 24 hours.
• No discrimination or retaliation. Management can’t discriminate or retaliate against workers for speaking out about or missing a shift due to safety concerns.

Our actions

We’re ready to grow this campaign until management hears our voices and meets our demands. Here are the steps we’re taking to get it done:

1. Get the word out. Let’s have one-on-one conversations with our coworkers to hear what issues they care about and see if they’re on board with our approach. If they are, let’s invite them to join our Frank campaign.
2. Craft the message. Let’s incorporate all of our voices into a unified message. This message will be the basis for a final letter to management.
3. Reach solidarity. We’re working to get 75% of [ABC] staff to join this campaign
4. Make our demands. Frank will anonymously send our letter to the CEO and Board of Directors of [ABC Store]. We’re requesting a response within 72 hours.
5. Defend our rights. If management ignores or rejects any of our demands, we’ll vote on our course of action.

Escalation toolbox

Let’s start planning possible actions to increase pressure on management in case they ignore or reject our demands.

Public campaign:

• Petition: We’ll prepare a petition to engage the public in our campaign.
• Social media: We’ll prepare messages, hashtags, videos and anonymous accounts to use in a social media campaign to increase public pressure on management.
• Media: We’ll prepare a press release to share with media. We’ll also create a list of media contacts who are willing to cover our campaign.

Work stoppage: If management doesn’t respond to our public campaign, we’ll vote on options including a sick-out, walkout, work slow down or work stoppage.

End of Template

GetFrank.com is a digital tool for non-management workers, in any type of job, to privately organize with their coworkers and create campaigns to improve their workplace. Want to use this template to make a change at your workplace? Want more, including examples, resources, and commentary from the author? Sign up to join Frank.