'Take action:' Dollar General to conduct worker safety review after repeated violations
Shareholders of Dollar General approved a resolution last week to create an independent audit of worker safety and well-being.
The decision, approved at the corporation's annual shareholder meeting in Goodlettsville, follows extensive media coverage of the company's track record of repeated store safety violations. Workers have also complained of perpetually understaffed stores, in-store violence, including armed robbery and murder, the backbreaking pace of work, poverty wages, rat infestations, and OSHA violations.
Hundreds of workers from Louisiana, South Carolina, Tennessee and elsewhere gathered at the company's headquarters last week to call for the company to take action. They were joined by various labor unions and advocacy groups, including Step Up Louisiana, United for Respect, Union of Southern Service Workers (USSW), Tennessee AFL-CIO, SEIU Local 205, Tennessee for All, Central Labor Council of Nashville and Middle Tennessee, the Black Nashville Assembly, and the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility.
“A majority vote supporting an independent audit on worker health and safety is a win for Dollar General workers. Dollar General has a responsibility to provide a safe working environment for its employees, and it now has clear support from its shareholders to do this,” said Mary Beth Gallagher, director of engagement at Domini Impact Investments in a written statement.
“We hope the company will act quickly to conduct an independent audit, incorporating worker and customer input, so root causes can be identified, and the process can begin to make system-wide improvements to the safety at its stores so that workers no longer have to worry if they will come home from work safely.”
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Dollar General shareholders approve audit of worker safety conditions
