Protest Against Dollar Store Closures Draws Support from Workers & Customers
Rally Follows “Shameful” Retaliatory Closures of Dollar General and Family Dollar
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: Julien Burns, Step Up Louisiana, (802) 272-4490, julien@redcypressconsulting.com
JULY 30, 2024, NEW ORLEANS—Dollar store workers and customers rallied at the Morrison Avenue Dollar General, Tuesday, to protest the seemingly retaliatory closures of six Dollar General locations and several Family Dollars in New Orleans East, exacerbating an existing food desert issue caused in part by dollar stores pushing out smaller businesses.
“Who [Dollar General] really truly hurting? You’re hurting the customers, you’re hurting the community. You took the cowardly way out,” Dollar General employee David Williams told the crowd.
Dollar General’s repeated track record of store safety violations has included blocked exits, perpetually understaffed stores, in-store violence including armed robbery and murder, backbreaking pace of work, poverty wages, rat infestations, and repeated OSHA violations. In 2023, the multi-billion dollar retail chain made headlines for being listed on OSHA’s ‘Severe Violators’ list, a label for employers with “willful, repeated” safety violations that haven’t taken effective measures toward improvement.
“The community supports the store—why can’t the store support the community? We asked for safety, not a shut down. It’s unfair that the community has to suffer because Corporate won’t do their job. Now, community members without any transportation will have to go out of their way to get the groceries they need,” said Isaiah Stewart, a former Dollar General employee who was recently terminated from his position after attending a national Dollar General protest in Tennessee at their Corporate Headquarters for the shareholders meeting.
“Before they thought about closing the stores, they let all the theft and violence go on and on,” Stewart continued. “So the day they decide to do something about it, the decision is to shut it down? Now we all are going to suffer.”
Dollar General recently settled with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for $12 million and agreed to implement new store safety measures, several which align with a list of demands from workers and organizers with Step Up Louisiana and other labor groups who have led a nationwide worker justice campaign for store safety. The campaign has escalated over the past two years, garnering public scrutiny and ongoing national media coverage.
The protesters were joined by congressional candidate Devin Davis. “It is worrisome that Dollar General is only here because this is a food desert. Our community deserves better than to be bought up and sold by corporations,” he told the protesters.
Dollar Tree, the company that owns the Family Dollar brand, also settled with OSHA for $1.35 million and other safety policy changes in 2023 following protests from Step Up Louisiana and Dollar Tree and Family Dollar Workers.
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About Step Up Louisiana
Step Up Louisiana is a community-based organization committed to building power to win education and economic justice for all. Step Up works with Louisianans of all races and ages to “step up” by campaigning, organizing from a racial justice perspective, and holding public officials accountable. The organization partners with parents, workers, students, and community members to disrupt systemic oppression in our schools and workplaces through voter education, advocacy, and action.
