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To: Corporate heads of Foxtrot Co.

Employees’ Response to Foxtrot’s Re-Opening Plan

Chicago plans to open up most businesses in June, which presents an opportunity for Foxtrot to position itself as a socially responsible company that will continue to do its part to flatten the curve and provide for its community. Our guests like to spend money at companies that make them feel good about themselves, hence the popularity of small local brands. We can position ourselves, through marketing and a few small operational changes, as a company that our guests can feel good about giving their money to. Just because Chicago is opening up, does not mean that the risks of COVID-19 have lessened or that the city has the health infrastructure to handle a second wave. While a corporate behemoth such as Amazon can continue to run without being affected by the death of employees, Foxtrot couldn’t survive that amount of bad press. Protecting employees isn’t just the right thing to do, it’s smart for business in terms of risk mitigation and public perception as well. Given the events of the ongoing protests that heavily damaged at least one store and forced everyone to flee at the last minute for their safety, it is clear that we are not just going back to normal.

1. Continue Social Distancing & Protective Measures In Store

2. Continue A Limited Cafe Menu/Suspend On-Site Food Preparation

3. Add an option for guests to tip on both deliveries and in-store transactions

4. Maintain Hazard Pay and clear up new hire pay rate discrepancy

5. Changes & Campaigns Must Be Informed IN WRITING 24 Hours in Advance. WE DEMAND FULL TRANSPARENCY.

Details on these updated demands can be found here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QIdErVwkMNvu8TsyQAHnPfQBYhx4PSRJbgstwIVjUtU/edit?usp=sharing

Original petition (4/08/2020)
Many of us have lost our livelihood jobs and Foxtrot is now our only source of income. Given the urgency and the rapidly evolving situation with the COVID-19 pandemic, we demand that temporary measures be put in place to help workers take care of their immediate health and also create the safest environment for our customers. The demands will also enable Foxtrot to continue to build lasting relationships and community engagement as we listen to our lawmakers and take this matter at hand seriously.

Consequently, we respectfully and formally request that you make immediate improvements to workplace health and safety policies by the morning of 04/08/2020. We respectfully call for Foxtrot Co. to:

1. Immediately convert to delivery only, suspend all on-site food preparation and coffee service, and provide each delivery store with 1 additional mini Clover to help streamline the delivery process.

2. Temporarily increase our base pay an additional $3/hr for hazard pay, apply an additional one-time $150 Foxtrot credit to cover grocery costs, and continue to provide a $2 per order delivery bonus for vendors.

3. Identify a workplace coordinator who will be responsible for COVID-19 issues and their impact at the workplace, and who can keep employees and customers safe. Provide free COVID-19 testing to employees when it becomes available.

4. Require all deliveries to be contactless and to develop an in-app verification for identification.

5. Keep 100% open communication and update all employees via e-mail with new policies regarding store changes and promotions.

Details on these demands can be found in our petition here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PpCCPYAVpGJPv_w1YqXAfkXADHWSqD68/view?usp=sharing

Why is this important?

Chicago continues to be the epicenter of coronavirus cases in Illinois, with cases increasing every day, despite social distancing efforts. The city is opening soon but the risk of contracting COVID-19 remains, and a vaccine will most likely not be on the market before the end of 2020. The threat of coronavirus has not gone away, and will only grow exponentially once shelter in place orders are lifted and more of the population interacts with one another. The decision to open is one of economic pressure, not because the virus has lessened in severity.

The majority of Foxtrot workers are uninsured, which makes it harder for us to receive proper medical care if we get sick. This threatens not only the lives of employees, but any guest who enters the stores. Furthermore, as noted by Demei Campbell of Foxtrot West Loop, “it is no secret that during this pandemic, people of color have been disproportionately affected and with that knowledge we have yet to receive any indication that will ensure our contributions will not go under appreciated. What is evident is that this type of relationship with corporations and front line workers has been normalized. It is evident that things are being handled through a white privileged lens and everyone is comfortable and complacent with the way things have been going.” Re-opening is not acceptable, as it denies the reality of many of the employees on the ground at Foxtrot, risking their lives by leaving their homes to serve the community, make the business run as successfully as possible, and obtain their livelihoods.

During these trying and uncertain times, we urge Foxtrot to look after its staff and community and to treat them with dignity so we can be united. The best thing we can do right now is to look out for one another. The numbers that are reported every day aren’t statistics; they are human lives – fathers, mothers, sons, daughters. Our pride for Foxtrot has turned into helplessness and we feel forgotten by management and corporate. We have first-hand experience seeing young people’s cards declining and have had handfuls of conversations with customers who have lost their jobs. It would be devastating to see a customer or another employee contract COVID-19 knowing we could’ve done more to address this. By fulfilling the desired demands mentioned above, Foxtrot will ensure the health and well-being of its employees and customers impacted by this global crisis. As store team members, vendors, dispatchers and general managers we are exposed to unsafe conditions while everyone above a certain pay grade is protected. We, the front-line workers, will be the ones to lead the way during this public health, economic, and political crisis. Support us and acknowledge the incredible work we are doing - instead of ordering lattes from us, join us. Thank us for the work we are doing. Let us know we aren’t alone in this!

We in no way want to halt store operation or to put the community at risk of losing our service, but storewide we are prepared to engage in further actions that are protected under federal law, specifically, Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act as well as collective action designed to safeguard our immediate health and wellbeing from imminent danger as defined by OSHA, Standard number 1977.12 (b) (2).

Updates

2020-06-03 12:27:02 -0400

We have updated our petition in response to corporate's re-opening plan, which has caused some of our demands to change. Read our full petition here! https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QIdErVwkMNvu8TsyQAHnPfQBYhx4PSRJbgstwIVjUtU/edit?usp=sharing

2020-05-14 12:59:52 -0400

After a couple rounds of negotiations with the corporate heads of Foxtrot, we were able to win on the fronts of health and safety conditions in stores. Stores were reorganized to comply with social distancing laws, cleaning schedules were implemented, the number of customers coming in at a time is now limited, we are supplied with PPE, and our coffee service is limited to drip and batch brew. We intend on these conditions to be kept in place until the curve of the pandemic has significantly decreased.

THANK YOU so much for your support. We couldn't have won on these fronts without you!!!

2020-04-08 17:19:47 -0400

500 signatures reached

2020-04-07 13:10:15 -0400

100 signatures reached

2020-04-07 11:42:31 -0400

50 signatures reached

2020-04-07 10:35:07 -0400

25 signatures reached

2020-04-07 08:40:31 -0400

10 signatures reached