Instacart is firing all employees who voted for unionization, Motherboard reports. The news comes at the moment when the company closes operations in the stores of some supermarkets amid the coronavirus pandemic and reduces the number of collections on the sidewalk.
The layoffs impact 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 for unionization last year with United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1546 (UFCW). It was a historic victory for the workers of the show and represented “the first time that employees of technology companies that predominantly depend on contracted labor formed a union to negotiate collectively for better wages, benefits and working conditions”, according to my colleague Nick Statt.
Employees were negotiating their first contract when news of the layoffs arrived. “These layoffs are totally disheartening for any worker who is trying to do something to make this job better,” said a union worker Motherboard. They said they were fighting for health and vacation insurance under their initial contract.
UFCW said Motherboard the layoffs will affect nearly 2,000 of the company’s 10,000 supermarket workers.
The news could have a frightening effect on other organizational efforts by Instacart employees across the country. The company’s leadership has already shown its hostility towards the organizers, carrying out a campaign to combat the union that included bringing managers to the supermarket in Skokie to convince workers to vote against the union.
Although the pandemic has changed the purchasing model at the company’s stores, it has also brought about a significant increase in demand for food delivery. This year, Instacart plans to go public, an event that could add value to the company by about $ 30 billion.
The company announced the layoffs on a blog about new models of supermarket pickups. Instacart said it would transfer some of the affected buyers to other supermarkets and provide “transition assistance” for job seekers. “We know that this is an incredibly challenging time for many, as we move through the COVID-19 crisis and we are doing everything we can to support the store’s customers during this transition,” says the blog post.
According Motherboard, workers could receive only $ 250 in compensation.
Instacart wouldn’t say The Verge whether union employees would be among those transferred. Layoffs are scheduled to take place between March and June, according to Motherboard.
In an emailed statement to The Verge, an Instacart spokesman wrote:
As a result of the transition of some grocery stores to the Partner Pick model, we will be closing our store operations at selected retail stores in the coming months. We know that this is an incredibly challenging time for many as we move through the COVID-19 crisis and we are doing everything we can to support the store’s customers during this transition. This includes transferring affected buyers to other retail locations where we have open buyer roles in the Instacart store, working closely with our retail partners to hire affected buyers for roles they wish to fill and provide buyers with transition assistance as they move. explore new job opportunities. We are also providing all affected customers with separation packages based on their stay at Instacart.
The statement was taken directly from the company’s public blog.