Hundreds of fast-food workers plan to strike today to demand COVID-19 protections

Hundreds of workers at more than 30 fast-food restaurants across Los Angeles and the Bay Area plan to walk off their jobs today demanding that McDonald’s, Burger King, Taco Bell, and other chains do more to keep workers safe during the coronavirus pandemic.

The mass walkout, which also includes cooks and cashiers at Domino’s, Pizza Hut, Subway, Popeyes, El Pollo Loco, and WaBa Grill, was inspired by ongoing strikes that began on March 5 after a McDonald’s worker in Los Angeles tested positive for COVID-19. Employees at other chains throughout the area have subsequently started striking after coworkers tested positive for the virus, requesting masks, gloves, soap, hazard pay, and paid sick days from the fast-food chains. Organizers at the Fight for $15 campaign, which helped coordinate today’s strike, told Vice (which first reported the news) that this is the first time they’ve seen spontaneous walkouts in nearly eight years of this movement.

“McDonald’s knew my coworker had tested positive, but they still had me flipping burgers last week, without a mask, and now I am also infected,” said Verli Godinez, the second worker to test positive for COVID-19 at her Los Angeles McDonald’s. She has been on strike since Sunday; she and her coworkers are demanding that McDonald’s pay them for a two-week quarantine period while the store is closed.

As Lauren Kaori Gurley notes for Vice, these fast-food strikes coincide with a swelling wave of work stoppages around the U.S. led by workers across industries: Instacart, Whole Foods, General Electric, Amazon, Barnes and Noble. While others can safely stay at home and practice social distancing, these workers are on the front lines of keeping essential services running during the pandemic.

And in other news…

Food banks are being overwhelmed by millions of people in need, while simultaneously facing shortages of both donated food and volunteer workers. [NYT]

Meat processing plants are suspending operations as workers fall ill with COVID-19. [NPR]

Waffle House, like other restaurants, is selling its ingredients — in this case, big bags of waffle mix — in this cash-strapped time. [Atlanta Business Chronicle]

Starbucks is making $10 million available in grants for its employees who are in “disaster designated areas” and in need of aid. [NRN]

McDonald’s sales were down 22 percent last month as the chain closed dine-in service and shifted to delivery and drive-thru. [NY Post]

A bar in Tybee Island, Georgia, took down nearly 15 years’ worth — about $3,714 — of patron-left dollar bills from its walls and ceilings to distribute to the now-unemployed staff. [CNN]

Tyler Perry paid for the groceries of all elderly grocery customers at 73 stores across Atlanta and New Orleans. [People]