Daniel Stone

For me it began in March when I emailed the Chief People Officer about our CEO's COVID19 plan. I asked if DG did paid sick leave, & tried to appeal to the PR side of things for doing more She responded with a generic email, but mentioned her gratitude for employees like me!

Over the next few days I sent more emails about hazard pay, PPE and other glaring needs for my coworkers directly to Kathy Reardon, the Chief People Officer mentioned, but she never responded. Asking about Hazard Pay for coworkers didnt seem all that pressing to the big-wigs.

After a chat with my boss I shifted my efforts to HR. I continued sending them my ideas for how to help my teammates in store. I asked HR if I as a corp employee could go help on the weekends in store & was definitively told not to do so. Enraging. These are my coworkers too.

It was clear at that point, after the inaction by HR, Senior Executives & more that I needed to reach out to my team members within corporate, in store, in DCs, fleet & field. Eventually I recruited enough of my fellow employees, now 300+, to join private social media groups.

These associates came from Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, Instagram, in person & more. All to unite behind the common belief that this company should be paying them a living wage and protect them as you would any other hero. Genuinely inspiring, but also heartbreaking to see this.

Heartbreaking because so many came in search of any form of hope they could grab on to. Mothers who could not feed their kids from cut hours, immunocompromised coworkers who feared they would hurt their family, pregnant mothers-to-be frozen from the terror of this virus.

We all came together as one because Dollar General prioritizes the satisfaction of rich investors over their workers needs, full stop, from the lowest level corporate workers to the part-timers in store. So lets break down their response to the #coronavirus thus far, shall we?

Most of us knew that Employees are quite literally risking their lives to keep this company going. Do they genuinely believe the most they can do is a temporary $1 raise & a tiny bonus for PTers? Workers are tired of asking companies for their empathy. We demand fairness.

One of my final emails at DG was informing HR of what in view was failure of leadership. I informed HR, as they had to have already known, that a T-Shirt doesnt do shit against this virus. Some stores still have no protection at all. #COVID19 #DollarGeneral #EssentialWorkers

On 4/27, after what they cited was "Bad Blood" between myself & the company as well as "negative emails," I was let go. But I know the truth I was let go due to my direct involvement with the organization & engagement of Union Activity for Dollar General employees. No question.

I was offered three months salary, ~$15,000, to stay silent on my termination forever. But after reflecting on the unjust pain that the people I am proud to call coworkers are going through, I could not sign this agreement & will speak out about it today & everyday. Forever.

Which leads me to the great people of @UFCW655. Throughout this time I had been working & learning directly alongside them and now as of 5/5 we have filed an Unfair Labor Practice Charge against @DollarGeneral in TN to fight this. We are fighting for all workers.