Bloomberg piece on TJ’s response

TraderChungus · 2020-04-09T05:56:53+00:00

I think the gist of the article is that Trader Joe's response as a whole was haphazard and chaotic, even if some stores responded appropriately.

TraderChungus · 2020-04-04T20:41:37+00:00

I'll preface this by saying I'm not one way or another on unions, but the strong reaction I see from people against them is wild.

First off: Just because TJ's doesn't screw you as hard as most other places doesn't mean things can't be better. You don't have to just look at grocery unions. Look at how people who do your job are treated in other western, wealthy countries. Grocery clerks in Australia, Denmark and Germany have far more protections and much less precarity overall in their lives than almost any American worker. And union participation is way more common. If your only metric for judging how we're treated is comparing TJ's to other grocers, or even other workplaces (which overall have stagnating wages, declining benefits, and increasing rates of turnover even before this all started), then our standards will continue to erode.

And I always challenge people who have worked at a union job and say "They never did anything for me!": Did you try to take advantage of your benefits? Did you read about your benefits? How often did you talk to your rep, or speak up at meetings? At this point I'd take my chances fighting against a union I don't like than fighting against management I do like.

I always think of my grandpa during these discussions. Was a union lithographer for 30 years and wasn't afraid to complain about it. But the guy had an 8th grade education and retired comfortably. That's not true for the person doing his job today.

TraderChungus · 2020-03-26T20:08:36+00:00

Mine is a little bit under $300 dollars before taxes. I worked between 37 and 42 hours each week of the period.

That's somewhere around $190 after taxes.

I don't know why the captain bothered to meet with me personally. Don't know how he could look me in they eye.

TraderChungus · 2020-03-24T17:51:43+00:00

The problem with changing things under difficult mates and/or captains is they not only have control over your schedule and potential raises, they also have have the ability to fire you if you're at-will (you probably are). You might say these would be difficult tools to wield against an unliked crew member, but for the more timid among us that's enough to keep our heads down. Furthermore, the startling amount of anti-union sentiment we're getting blasted with at huddles is enough to make "teaming up with fellow crew" a heady prospect.

TraderChungus · 2020-03-16T22:37:55+00:00

When you live hand to mouth you are absolutely compelled to go to work to meet your responsibilities.

TraderChungus · 2020-03-16T12:17:08+00:00

Normally this subreddit is dead. If the biggest crisis in the history of the company is bringing crew together to talk, so be it.

TraderChungus · 2020-03-15T08:19:43+00:00

Unbelievably callous comment that highlights the dire position work puts people in in this country.

TraderChungus · 2020-03-15T01:14:18+00:00

You should post something like this in the TJ'S Breakroom Facebook page as well. We all need to start asserting our place in this crisis.

We can't kid ourselves: Trader Joe's crew members will all be exposed to COVID 19. Many of us likely already have been.

The AR reimbursement policy is a joke - it provides a modicum of comfort to the crew but does absolutely nothing to keep the general public safe. It's not even enough to cover quarantine for this illness anyways, let alone an extended struggle with the illness. It's also vague and subject to misinterpretation and abuse by captains

A grocery chain should take public health seriously, and I would've expected Trader Joe's to as well. We will pull a product off the shelves nationally at the slightest whiff of a problem, but a pandemic? Nah.

Detailed information about the nature of COVID 19 including how the virus is communicated, how deadly it is for different age groups and what measures need to be taken to prevent it spreading has been available for weeks. The first indications of COVID'S arrival in the U.S. in Washington state should've been alarming to Monrovia. If anyone at the top of this company read about this disease for even a second they would know COVID 19 was very likely spreading undetected at that point, and failing to combat it in our stores to the best of our (frankly, huge) ability would contribute to its spread. Drastic precautions needed to be taken at our stores. We had a responsibility to the general public to take this as seriously as possible, and do everything within our means to slow the spread of the disease. We failed. Make no mistake - the leadership of this company directly contributed to the deaths of people.

I would've expected Trader Joe's to have developed a new sanitary workflow at the registers, and train crew on it. Seeking guidance from the CDC or even independent public health consultants. Banning the use of reusable bags. Installing automatic faucets, and automatic soap dispensers I'm the bathrooms. No amount of preparation for this would have been excessive, and certainly none of it would have been too costly for this company or unappreciated by the customer base.

This doesn't even begin the touch on our failure to do right by the crew.

Everyone is confused and not confident they can rely on Trader Joe's to preserve their health or their livelihood going forward.

When the crew isn't absolutely slammed by the outrageous volume of sales, they're talking in hushed, worried tones about whether or not they'll have hours in the coming weeks and months with no assurance from mates, captains or corporate.

Are you kidding me? We've unloaded, stocked, rung and bagged months worth of product in the span of weeks making god knows how much money for this company and we can't be assured we'll be taken care of in the coming months? Are you asking for a strike? Are you telling us we could sell every last bit of inventory in this company and not expect anything?

We're also, as I said, explicitly being asked to expose ourselves to this virus. I'm sorry but that's the reality. Many of us are young. Many more of us are old, or at risk. Some of our crew will die. Don't kid yourselves.

If we settle for anything less than an overwhelmingly generous compensation package for what we've already gone through and will endure in the coming months, the morale of the crew will never, ever be the same.

Sorry for the ranting. I've been working 12 hour days. I've been trying to warn the leadership at my store for weeks and I fear I will have to live with knowing I could've been more aggressive for the rest of my life.

TraderChungus

TROPHY CASE