Romeoville, Bedford Park Workers Walk Out Of Job Over Coronavirus

ROMEOVILLE, IL — Two groups of workers walked off their job sites Monday morning in protest of their employers' coronavirus responses. Workers at the MAT Holdings Inc. facility in Romeoville and Raymundo's Food Group in Bedford Park left their shifts at 5 and 6 a.m. respectively; both groups worked with the labor rights group Arise Chicago to coordinate the protest. A spokesman for that group, Jorge Mujica, said the walkouts were workers' way of exercising their collective bargaining power without either group having a proper union.

"This is not promoted by a union, [the Raymundo's workers] are still not union members, a union doesn't have any bearing on this," Mujica said. "As for MAT Holdings, as far as we know there's no union."

Mujica clarified that the Raymundo's workers have voted to form a union, but the company has refused to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement. Patch called Raymundo's to confirm this, but did not receive any response.

"This is what we call a 'concerted protected activity,'" Mujica said, in reference to the morning's walkouts. "It's a group of workers organizing in the workplace, and they get legal protection under the national Labor Relations Act."

The specific concerns that prompted the walkouts, Mujica said, were very similar between the two groups of employees.

In Romeoville, workers were upset that a possible case of coronavirus at the facility in March was not handled in a timely manner or communicated effectively to employees. That case eventually proved negative, but a document from MAT's chief HR representative Bob Patton admitted that the facility shutdown which occurred in response to that case "could have been handled better."

"We're still afraid to work, because like two weeks ago now, we heard ... a coworker was positive for the virus," a MAT employee named Lucio Ocampo told Patch. "At a meeting ... on [March 27] or so on, we had a meeting with the management telling us about this possible ... coronavirus; that they had to shut the warehouse down."

In response to this development, Ocampo said the workers wanted two weeks paid time off to self-quarantine and a full deep-clean of the facility, especially after another coworker did test positive for the coronavirus. Though the facility was closed, Ocampo told Patch that the company offered employees extra pay to clean the facility themselves instead of hiring a professional sanitation service. He said MAT also told employees that if they took time off to quarantine, it would count against their personal days.

"Here's the thing, they told us that if we want to get paid, they're going to take [quarantining] out from our ... personal time," Ocampo said.

The document from Patton to MAT employees said he believed there was no reason for workers to be taking a quarantine leave. It stated the company had met CDC and OSHA standards in cleaning the facility, and as a result, no sick leave was warranted.

Patch attempted to contact MAT Holdings, which reported more than $1.5 billion in total revenue in 2018, about this situation, but did not immediately receive a response.

For Raymundo's workers, their concerns are very similar. They said company did not respond to a potential case of coronavirus in the facility in a timely manner, with one employee going so far as to claim the company hid the news from workers. After a second possible case came to light, the workers there are likewise now demanding a professional deep-clean of the facility and two weeks' paid leave to quarantine.

"We had some people that were positive over there, and they didn't tell us the truth," a Raymundo's employee who asked to go only by Sonia said.

Sonia also said that Raymundo's, like MAT Holdings in Romeoville, offered additional pay to their employees to clean the facility themselves rather than pay for a professional sanitation service.

"For me it's kind of ridiculous," she said," because if [the company] gets us to clean, we're just going to get more and more [coronavirus cases] in there."

Despite the workers' concerns, Sonia said Raymundo's has so far shown no inclination in meeting their demands for two weeks paid time off and a professional sanitizing of their workplace.

"They don't want to do that," Sonia said.

Patch contacted Raymundo's Food Group for comment on this situation, but as with MAT Holdings, did not immediately receive any response.

The workers in Romeoville and Bedford Park who staged walkouts are part of a growing strike wave in America, as essential workers across the country demand their employers provide them with more robust coronavirus protections. In Chicago, Amazon workers are currently on strike, demanding the company close its facility on 28th Street and Western Avenue for a deep clean and provide its workers with two weeks paid leave.

Last week, an Amazon worker named Chris Smalls was fired after he led a strike at a New York City facility, and leaked internal documents show Amazon officials wanted to portray Mr. Smalls as 'not smart or articulate.'

Beyond Amazon, workers with upscale grocery chain Whole Foods and grocery delivery company Instacart have also launched strike actions across the country. Only time will tell if these actions bear fruit for workers as the coronavirus crisis continues.

"They need to tell us exactly the truth, and we want two weeks paid [sick leave]," Sonia said, "because they exploit us."

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