NOLA Workers to Protest Against Dollar Store Companies
Dollar store workers don’t feel at ease in the Big Easy.
With the help of Step Up Louisiana, a workers’ rights organization, dollar store workers and their supporters throughout New Orleans will carry out worker-led and customer-led actions through the month of May.
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Kenya Slaughter, an organizer with Step Up Louisiana, used to work in a Dollar General store. She said the work conditions often felt unsafe, uncleanly or otherwise unenticing.
Though she left the store she worked at about a year ago, Slaughter still works with dozens of dollar store workers who experience the same issues she did—and sometimes on a more exacerbated level.
Step Up Louisiana released a report focused on the health and safety conditions of dollar stores throughout New Orleans in April. The findings showed that a number of stores in the region had slip-and-fall hazards, electrical issues, sanitation problems and more. The report also found that, among over 300 stores, about 60 percent of dollar stores in New Orleans were “pervasively understaffed, with only one or two employees working.”
Slaughter said violence in dollar stores has also been a major problem for workers, whether because of robberies, gun violence or other incidents. In Slaughter’s former store, she said, a woman rushed into the building with a machete and locked herself in the employees’ break room.
When incidents like that occur, Slaughter said, workers in understaffed stores without security struggle to respond appropriately and fear for their lives. While many dollar stores have panic buttons inside of them, Slaughter said Step Up Louisiana has found that many of them are broken.
“Safety measures that are already put into place just aren’t working, and when I say that, I mean panic buttons that don’t work. If you’re going to have a panic button, make sure it works. Make sure the people on the other end of it are coming in hot, because…I need to feel safe. I need to know that I’m guarded, protected and valued,” she told Sourcing Journal.
In response to those conditions and others, the group is organizing a worker-led protest on May 15 for dollar store workers in New Orleans. The workers will call for fair pay of at least $15 an hour.
David Williams, a stocker who has worked in a New Orleans Dollar General store for nearly five years, said the pay dollar store workers receive is not sufficient relative to the duties they are expected to perform.
He said even though Dollar General tells its employees it values them, it doesn’t show that sentiment with its actions, specifically around wages.
“We’re all trying to strive and survive in this world…so I believe everybody deserves a fair wage to survive, to keep their finances right, to pay their rent, pay the bills, save up for vacation,” he told Sourcing Journal. “At the end of the day, we’re not looking for [a] pizza party; we’re not trying to go to Chuck E. Cheese. We’re just trying to survive in this world that we live in.”
The worker-led action will also call for stable work environments and increased safety provisions in stores.
The protest will take place at a Dollar General store, located at 8201 Earhart Blvd., and will begin at 12:00 p.m. CT. Slaughter said the action is not a strike, but if the organization can muster up more support and confidence among workers, it may escalate to that in the future.
“We have to show [the companies] who has the power, where the power lies, but we also need the workers to commit to this,” she told Sourcing Journal. “At the moment, there’s not any striking going on, but once we get a movement of a good number [of workers], we’re going to go for it—and hopefully that’s in the near future.”
A week later, on May 22, Step Up Louisiana has plans for a two-location customer-led action. Slaughter said organizers and workers will work to educate customers on the conditions workers face in stores every day. They will also circulate a petition asking for a security presence in stores.
Slaughter said some dollar stores have spotty security, but dollar store workers feel that doesn’t go far enough to offer them protection and believes customers should be aware of how the dysfunction workers face in stores could translate to a less-than-safe shopping environment.
“At the customer-led action, we will be getting the support of our communities and informing them on what we’re doing so they can stand with us in solidarity. It’s a problem for the community, as well, these safety issues,” Slaughter told Sourcing Journal. “We want real security who can arrest, real security who’s really paying attention, real security who’s taking this seriously. And those security people need to be paid well, as well.”
The action will take place at a Dollar General store, located at 830 N Broad St., and at a Family Dollar store, located at 2650 Canal St. Slaughter said Step Up Louisiana doesn’t have a specific goal in mind for the number of signatures organizers would like to obtain on that day, but she does plan to continue circulating the petition after the customer-led action day.
“The petition can still circulate without action going on. We’ll definitely still be trying to collect signatures [afterward] and potentially get the petition to actually move something [with these companies,” Slaughter said. “The [petition] is really letting customers know that they do have power. They’ve got to know who is fighting with—and for—them.”
But the action doesn’t stop there. Step Up Louisiana organizers have plans to travel to Goodlettsville, Tenn., to protest at Dollar General’s headquarters during its shareholders meeting, which will be held on May 29 at 12:00 p.m. CT. Slaughter said the organization has made the trek in the past, and shared the advocacy group has other activities planned that week in Tennessee.
Slaughter said that while Step Up Louisiana’s calls extend to Dollar General, Dollar Tree and Family Dollar, which is owned by Dollar Tree, Dollar General seems to be the organization’s main area of focus at the moment. That’s because, she said, Dollar Tree and Family Dollar came to Step Up Louisiana’s offices to speak to organizers. Though no action has come from the discussions organizers had with the companies, Slaughter said their willingness to meet is still more than the organization has seen from Dollar General.
While none of the shareholders’ proposals in Dollar General’s 2024 proxy statement pertain to the rights and safety of in-store workers, Step Up Louisiana intends to use the protest as another form of advocacy for safer store infrastructure, a right to heal after exposure to harm in the workplace, worker input on new safety practices in stores and more.
Slaughter said she hopes the actions planned throughout May inspire change in dollar stores, both in New Orleans and throughout the country.
“No one should feel fearful for their life going into work every day. That shouldn’t be an issue,” Slaughter said. “You should feel safe at work the same way you do at home.”
Williams said speaking out about what he has experienced at Dollar General—and participating in Step Up Louisiana’s protests and actions—help him give a voice to workers who may otherwise not have one.
“Me and everybody else, we just want to see the company do better—treat your employees how they’re supposed to be treated. That’s all we’re asking for; show us the respect, and give us what we deserve,” he said.
