By Keisha Brown, former SC Dollar General employee, #OrganizetheSouth
This is shameful.
Dollar General’s recently-retired CEO Todd Vasos was paid over $10 MILLION yearly since 2018, while in 2019 the median Dollar General employee pay was just $14,571 A YEAR — with zero benefits and little protections.
Speaking of little protections, on July 13, 2023, the U.S. Department of Labor said this: "Federal workplace safety inspections at two Tampa-area Dollar General stores found the company again exposing employees to fire hazards and other unsafe conditions, continuing the long history of disregard for worker safety by one of the nation’s largest discount retailers."
Incredible.
Dollar General is a Fortune 500 company raking in $34.2 BILLION yearly in sales with 18,800 locations in 47 states — and stores popping up each and every day in our communities.
Seventy-five percent of Americans live within five miles of a store. This mega corporation has a responsibility to the communities it does business in and hugely profits from. Their greedy business practices hurt us all.
Take action with me now and demand that Dollar General RESPECT, PROTECT and PAY our workers and communities. That's right. Respect their rights to a union, give them a seat at the table, and pay them at least $15/hour.
These worker demands are happening on a huge scale right now — with 340,000 UPS workers authorizing possible strikes and 11,000 screenwriters already on strike, PLUS this July, 116,000 actors and performing artists went on strike too!
On top of all that, Starbucks workers are on a city-to-city bus tour meeting workers & supporters and fighting for a first contract. Those are just a few #SolidaritySummer examples. But wait, one more I just have to mention: half a million SEIU members from across industries are bargaining for new labor contracts.
