The Target corporation has been positioning itself as a champion of its employees. They’ve gotten public praise for supporting diversity and inclusion and increasing wages and benefits in response to the pandemic. But the truth is that those benefits leave out a shadow workforce of tens of thousands of people, many of whom are Black and Brown women--who power Target's growing and profitable grocery delivery service, Shipt.
Shipt has seen demand increase so much that the company has hired 100,000 people in the last few months to keep up, as the COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally changed how people shop for groceries. Increasingly, consumers are relying on home delivery services, and home delivery service is a major reason that Target's revenue is up during the pandemic.
But shoppers working for Shipt do not get the paid family and medical leave they need to care for a sick family member or recover from extended illness. The only paid sick leave that the company provides is restricted to shoppers who are officially diagnosed with COVID-19 or are put under a mandatory quarantine--and even that's limited to 50% pay for 14 days. And that assumes you can get a test, which we know is challenging in many parts of the country.
Shoppers working for Shipt are organizing to demand better paid leave, and UltraViolet and PL+US (Paid Leave for the United States) are working together to lift up their demands. If enough people speak up, we can pressure Target to ensure that Shipt shoppers get the same paid family and medical leave benefits that Target employees receive. Will you sign the petition?