Buffalo Exchange must not open until the coronavirus is better managed
Anonymous (Instagram: @ForTheHeard) – Atlanta, GA
The employees of Buffalo Exchange Atlanta have organized, petitioning for their store location to stay closed until after more efficient track and trace methods have been implemented in Georgia. We are also asking our company to adapt to this changing world: to have an online store for each of their physical locations, including in Atlanta, so customers can still shop their local store, while allowing employees, customers, and our communities feel safe and slowing the spread of the coronavirus. These methods like curbside pick-up are inspired by what the restaurant business and book businesses around metro Atlanta are using.
So far, employees at this location have been bullied and intimidated into going back to work by management despite sharing health concerns for themselves and their families. Communication has been inadequate, and we have received contradictory information over the weeks leading up to our store's opening, which is set for May 26th.
We are hoping to inspire more workers in metro Atlanta and across Georgia to organize for more protections, and to pressure more employers to take action to protect their employees, customers, and communities.
Lives should not be sacrificed for the sake of profit, and we are all in this together.
If we can create a movement where more businesses stay closed and adapt, defying Governor Kemp, we will help slow the spread of the coronavirus, saving lives.
It’s too soon to re-open. Buffalo Exchange must not open stores until states better manage the coronavirus crisis. We’re asking all who support us to sign and share our petition, which is partially reproduced with our demands below:
Buffalo Exchange should keep brick and mortar closed for the health of their employees, their customers, and the health of the overall public. We are a non-essential business, and we should not open during this public health crisis until states are better equipped to handle this crisis. We need to allow time for states to catch up on the test-and-trace method to contain the spread of the coronavirus before we return back to work, and we should not be using PPE that should be designated to essential workers. Further, we as Buffalos need to use this time to understand the world has changed, and Buffalo Exchange must change too--beyond just implementing safety precautions, which will be difficult to carry out in such a fast-paced, high-traffic, non-essential customer service environment.
Now and when we do reopen, once this crisis is better managed within states, we need:
Physical stores to be closed until states have adequately implemented track-and-trace methodology
Physical stores to eventually reopen with altered business methods, shifting to more online shopping individuated towards physical stores
Do not fire or intimidate employees for not wanting to return to stores
Employees that volunteer to go back are the first ones to go back
Paid sick leave if an employee contracts COVID-19
A clear written policy update for the Attendance and Punctuality
Customers without masks will be denied entry to the store and temperature checks for customers, not just employees
Managers must be responsible for ensuring customers have masks and temperature checks since managers are best equipped with training to deal with customers who refuse these protocols
Understanding of the new rules that will be enforced upon returning to work, who will enforce them, and how they will be effectively implemented
Specific answers to the questions sent to store management and HR that we have yet to receive sufficient answers to:
What kind of PPE will be given to us and where is it coming from?
What will protocol be if a Buffalo employee comes down with COVID-19?
[...]
So far, employees have not received adequate communication. We are not getting direct answers to our questions, and we are not receiving specific enough safety guidelines to make us feel safe enough to come back to work. Further, we have received contradictory guidelines and information over the past few weeks, leading up to reopening. We do not have faith or confidence in the ability of our managers to implement these guidelines that are not even fully clear to the managers themselves or employees. The reopening of Buffalo feels haphazard, and Buffalo employees have not been involved enough in this process. Again, we are more than happy to help Buffalo proactively move forward into a new future that adapts to this world that will never be the same again, we just have to be given a chance to be heard.
