Instacart fires all employees who voted to unionize



[ad_1]

Instacart is laying off all employees who voted to unionize, Motherboard reports. The news comes as the company shuts down in-store operations at some grocery stores amid the coronavirus pandemic and doubles curbside pickups.

The layoffs affect 10 unionized workers at a grocery store called Mariano’s, in addition to other Instacart employees. The group in Skokie, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, voted last year to unionize with United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 1546. It was a historic victory for workers on the scene and represented “the first time that employees of tech companies who rely primarily on contract labor have formed a union to collectively bargain for better wages, benefits and more. working conditions ”, according to my colleague Nick Statt.

The employees were negotiating their first contract when news of the layoffs hit. “These layoffs are totally disheartening for all the construction workers who are trying to do something to improve these jobs,” said one union worker. Motherboard. They said they were fighting for health insurance and vacations in their original contract.

TUAC said Motherboard the layoffs will affect nearly 2,000 of the company’s 10,000 grocery store employees.

The news could have a chilling effect on other efforts to organize Instacart employees across the country. Company management has already shown its hostility towards the organizers, by leading an anti-union campaign that included the arrival of managers at the Skokie grocery store to convince workers to vote against the union.

While the pandemic has changed the company’s in-store shopping model, it has also resulted in a significant increase in demand for grocery delivery. This year, Instacart plans to go public, an event that could value the company at around $ 30 billion.

The company announced the layoffs in a blog post about the new grocery pickup models. Instacart said it would move some of the affected shoppers to other grocery stores and provide “transition assistance” to those looking for work. “We know this is an extremely difficult time for many as we navigate the COVID-19 crisis, and we are doing all we can to help in-store shoppers through this transition,” the blog says.

According to Motherboard, workers could receive as little as $ 250 in severance pay.

Instacart wouldn’t say The edge whether union employees are among those transferred. The layoffs are expected to take place between March and June, according to Motherboard.

In a statement sent by email to The edge, a spokesperson for Instacart wrote:

Following the transition of some grocers to a partner choice model, we will be reducing our in-store operations in some stores in the coming months. We know this is an incredibly difficult time for many as we navigate the COVID-19 crisis, and we are doing all we can to help in-store shoppers get through this transition. This includes moving affected buyers to other stores where we have open Instacart Store Buyer roles, working closely with our retail partners to hire relevant buyers for the roles they seek to fill, and provide buyers with transition assistance when exploring new work. Opportunities. We also provide all affected buyers with separation packages based on their seniority at Instacart.

The statement was taken directly from the company’s public blog.

[ad_2]

Source link