100 signatures reached
To: John Morikis
Enforce Social Distancing at Sherwin Williams
Sherwin Williams has proven to be reactive instead of proactive in ensuring employees safety at their stores. The company has encouraged retail homeowners into their stores by offering a 30% discount, allowing them to order color chips online, and more. This practice is in place even in states that have stay at home orders.
Sherwin Williams has used our relationships with companies that are essential to critical infrastructure to remain open and sell to these homeowners. While curbside pickup is meant to limit customer interactions there is miscommunication or just plan lack of enforcement. Some examples of this are still telling employees to place paint in customer's vehicles whether the customers are wearing PPE or not, encouraging employees to greet customers at the door or outside to take orders, or in some cases managers still allowing customers in our stores.
The company has also made some policies optional which has allowed some district or store managers to put employees in situations they are not comfortable in. This includes allowing customers to bring paint matches to be brought into the store.
In addition the company offered employees $2 more an hour only to cut their hours. Part timers with less than 6 months in the company were fired, part time employees who remained had hours cut, sometimes to the single digit, and even full time employees have been told or suggested to work less hours.
Why is this important?
Employees deserve to feel safe. As a "sales driven" company district and store managers have many reasons to not follow optional procedures as it can effect their bonus payments. Employees have become frustrated, angry, scared, or just plan overwhelmed by the changing policies and lack of enforcement. No guarentee of pay has been made which leaves employees feeling like they just endanger themselves to earn a living.
We ask that all store employees have a say in optional policies. If one employee is not comfortable then no one should be able to side step the policy. We ask that curbside is clarified that no one has to load paint into a customer's vehicle if they are not comfortable. We ask that a barrier is set up to prevent customers from opening or crowding doors. We ask that the company offer employees leave with a guarentee that they will have a job when they come back. We ask that a portal for concerns be opened with a guaranteed response from someone hire than district management to discourage district management from intimidating employees.
