4/20/2021
This article was originally published on JustBloNo.net on April 17,2021.
A 7 AM mandatory meeting was scheduled by Green Top Grocery management on Friday April 16th, 2021 to handle an ongoing strike by a quarter of their labor force. All employees were present. The aggrieved workers have been striking since Wednesday, April 14th. They claim Green Top Grocery management has created a hostile working environment, violated Illinois labor laws, & retaliated against whistle blowers. Allegations center around Michael Talley, marketing manager. Workers are calling on Green Top Groceries to terminate Mr. Talley, because they don’t feel safe working around him.
JustBloNo spoke with two workers on condition of anonymity because of a fear of retaliation.
Workers described the meeting as largely unsuccessful. They claimed Mr. Talley was present at the meeting. They allege he yelled at them saying, “You know you’re all lying.” Talley was eventually asked by one employee to leave the store which he did. Management did schedule a 4 PM meeting later on Friday between the aggrieved workers and general manager Scott Destasio.
At the 4 PM meeting, workers were told by Mr. Destasio he has heard from nearly all of Green Top Grocery employees, and most said they don’t feel comfortable with the Marketing Manager remaining employed. However, Mr. Destasio said he needs to investigate this, blaming the board and management for mishandling the situation. He also said he was willing to consider a third party investigator after talking with workers one-on-one.
The six workers present at this meeting shared their concerns about personal records being left out where everyone can see, as in the case of Chloe White who was fired by Mr. Talley in February. Nearly a week later, one worker snagged this photo of Ms. White’s termination letter left out publicly for all employees to see.
Ms. White was terminated over allegedly offensive social media posts. However, Ms. White filed a complaint with the Illinois Department of Employment services which issued a ruling in her favor that she was wrongfully terminated and eligible for unemployment.
Workers also expressed concerns about how Green Top Grocery is not ADA compliant. At least one person, an owner and customer, expressed their frustration with ADA noncompliance on the blog Green Top Grocery Employees, which is unaffiliated with the co-op.
The workers felt Mr. Destasio was defensive and dismissive of their concerns, and he said there were a lot of emotions flying.
One employee within management, who had worked at Green Top Grocery for three years, said she was striking unless Mr. Talley was placed on leave. Mr. Destasio said she did not have the same protections as the other workers, so Green Top was “accepting her resignation.” Essentially, she was fired on the spot.
Of the six workers present: one was now fired, another (Ms. White) was already unemployed, and one had already put in their two weeks. All six workers are interested in escalating this further through whatever avenues available to them, but most are unsure whether they will continue working at Green Top Grocery.
Whatever your feelings about the severity or subjectivity of the allegations against Green Top Grocery, it is fascinating to see a quarter of a business’ labor force activated in this way to fight for control of the workplace. As a reminder, these workers are nonunion and have none of the protections that come with one. Some might ask, “Why don’t they just get another job?” According to them, it’s because they “love this co-op, and we believe in its core principles. Some of the employees whose stories appear on this website have been with the store since the beginning. They are passionate about GTG and have stood beside owners during campaigns to save the store. We’ve all worked hard to keep you safe and feed you well during the pandemic. We want this co-op to continue doing good work in our community, but in order for the store to succeed, the staff must feel safe at the workplace and supported by the store leadership. We know that Green Top has, unfortunately, been through a tremendous amount of bad publicity since April 2020. While we are reluctant to bring more, staff has literally exhausted our options to stop the unhealthy, retaliatory work environment currently happening at your (our) co-op.”
Should they seek other employment, the job market is wide-open for them. Following national trends, BloNo businesses–especially restaurants–are experiencing a labor shortage. This increases the value of labor, thereby increasing the power of the individuals with that labor: workers. Already we are seeing an upward trend in wage growth above the current Illinois minimum wage (currently $11/hr; increases to $12/hr in July). According to local capitalist and owner of Rob Dob’s Restaurant, Rob Dobski, “Right now, for kitchen help if you want any consistency you’ve gotta be paying $13-14 per hour for good, experienced grill people and chefs.”
This is an especially fortuitous yet fleeting moment in the country where workers could very quickly gain more control over the means of production. Many of the Green Top Workers JustBloNo spoke with expressed exhaustion from their work situation but felt empowered nonetheless. Hopefully, this will be a spark and inspire other BloNo workers to organize their own workplaces. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that as long as America remains a capitalist-run state, capitalist indifference to working people will know no bounds. The government will not save workers, so workers must organize and create the institutions that will.
Attempts to reach out to Green Top Grocery and General Manager Scott Destasio were made, but JustBloNo received no response.
A GoFundMe has been created to help striking workers. Workers are asking the community to help their cause.
This story will be updated as needed.
