Goodlettsville, TN— For the first time ever, Dollar General workers, supported by labor advocacy groups including Step Up Louisiana, United for Respect, Fight for $15 and a Union, #Putinaticket, and the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, will hold a rally on May 25th during the retailer’s annual shareholder meeting to demand higher wages and safer working conditions.
The rally marks the public launch of a national movement to take on Dollar General and demand they address dangerous in-store conditions and poverty wages that are affecting workers’ health and well-being. This demonstration comes after years of grassroots organizing from worker groups that have mobilized workers at the community level to speak out and fight for the changes they need in their workplaces.
Dollar General has recently made headlines for their perpetually understaffed stores, in-store violence including armed robbery and murder, backbreaking pace of work, poverty wages, rat infestations, and OSHA violations.
Now, workers are calling on shareholders to join them in demanding the corporation address these issues. Workers and advocates will join together in Peay Park before marching towards the Dollar General shareholder meeting taking place at Goodlettsville City Hall. During the action, workers will hand out fliers and hold banners and signs calling on the retailer to pay a living wage and address dangerous working conditions.
WHAT: A rally of workers and advocacy groups demanding Dollar General executives treat their workers with respect and dignity by implementing better wages and safer working conditions.
WHO: Dollar General workers, hourly wage workers from Dollar Tree, Family Dollar, Amazon, Walmart, Starbucks, and fast food chains; advocates from organizations including:
- Step Up Louisiana
- United for Respect
- Fight for $15 and a Union
- #Putinaticket
- Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility
WHEN: Wednesday, May 25, 2022 starting at 7:30 am CT.
WHERE: Rally will begin in Peay Park Goodlettsville, TN where workers and advocates will meet and then march towards the Dollar General shareholding meeting located at Goodlettsville City Hall 105 South Main Street, Goodlettsville, TN 37072. POINT OF CONTACT ON THE GROUND: Caleb Holmes 318-638-9500 caleb@stepuplouisiana.org
Mary Gundel, the Dollar General manager who was fired for making a viral TikTok video about the unacceptable conditions at her store in Florida who led national demonstrations on May 2nd, will travel to the rally, alongside Kenya Slaughter, a DG worker whose New York Times op-ed in April 2020 was a prescient snapshot of the horrors essential workers would face working on the frontlines during the pandemic and led to PPE changes and hazard pay corporation-wide.
Dollar General workers are standing up and joining a growing movement of hourly wage earners refusing to be treated as expendable any longer. In a powerful display of solidarity across the movement, workers from Starbucks, Amazon, Walmart, and fast food chains will be in attendance at Wednesday’s rally.
