CVS (now jobless) employees speak out against violence in Baltimore.

[ForgoTheConsequence]

[katsy]

1. Wouldn't CVS have business insurance?

Wouldn't that cover lost wages for employees?

I hope so for the employees sake.

[ForgoTheConsequence]

2. Probably.

But in the short term there is lots of mental trauma here, I wouldn't be surprised is some of these workers have PTSD.

[WillowTree]

5. No doubt they have business insurance.......

.......but it may not provide coverage for employees' lost wages. Particularly if they decide not to rebuild/reopen, which is entirely possible.

And even if the coverage is there, how likely is it that these retail workers have enough of a safety net to hold them over until claims are made, processed and paid?

[katsy]

7. Thank u

[geek tragedy]

23. no. unemployment covers employee wages.

business goes out of business, employees out of job without wages.

They don't get severance packages.

[Xithras]

24. No.

I've owned a business and had a fairly standard fire and loss policy. Employee wages were not covered. There is a type of insurance rider called "business interruption coverage" that reimburses for sales and profit losses during a closure but few businesses bother with it. That would normally be used to cover employee salaries. And note that I said SALARIES. Hourly employees are paid by the hour, and when they're working zero hours, they're generally SOL.

FWIW, 70% of businesses that close due to fire never reopen, even when they're insured. Why? Because when you file a fire insurance claim your rates rise substantially. That makes the business less financially viable or profitable. Generally, it can be cheaper to take a payout, close the business, and open a new one elsewhere. Because chain stores tend to be insured on a per-store basis, the new insurance rates for the store will rise sharply after the fire. I won't be surprised if this CVS becomes an empty lot.

[katsy]

93. Thx so much

It's tragic for the employees.

[nadinbrzezinski]

25. Take out your insurance policy and read it

likely it has a clause regarding civil unrest, acts of nature or war. Usually the insurance is void at that point.

Why many businesses never reopen after civil unrest.

As to the workers, they might be able to apply for unemployment, but they do not have the savings to weather this easily.

[justhanginon]

27. It's been many, many years but if I recall, there is a waiting period before

any benefits start. If you are on the edge financially that could set you back and you fall behind on your rent, bills etc. and some low wage earners just cannot recover from that hit.

[nadinbrzezinski]

28. Exactly

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

76. A. not for regular emplooyees, only execs and maybe store management but B.

the people pretending to care about this , dont

Especially if the lost jobs are for local black people.

[riderinthestorm]

3. Those DUers who dismissed the property loss as a trivial concern need to watch this

Heartbreaking.

[ForgoTheConsequence]

4. It is heartbreaking.

But they will dismiss it with the same tired old lines. Meanwhile they're sitting comfortably in middle class white suburbs while they cheer on the destruction of black neighborhoods.

[Ms. Toad]

20. The DUers cheering have, to the extent I can identify race, NOT been white,

and have been very vocal in shaming whites who just don't understand that the violence is a useful response.

No idea where this meme that those cheering it on are white, sitting comfortably in middle class white suburbs, but to the extent you are seeing cheering on DU, that is not where it is coming from.

But to the main point, I do wish those cheering - whatever their race - could see and understand the impact that a neighborhood self-destructing from misdirected rage has on real lives. And I agree they will dismiss it - because that is exactly what was going on in several threads I found completely disgusting a few days ago.

[Oktober]

78. I've seen both cheering...

[Ms. Toad]

91. You're in different threads than I'm in, then. n/t

[DrDan]

85. there are some cheering and encouraging the violence who DEFINITELY are white, high-profile DUers

the loss, both in terms of property and personal, will no doubt be dismissed as collateral

[Ms. Toad]

90. I have not seen that.

All I've seen are black DUers berating white DUers for NOT cheering, and not seeing it as a good thing.

[840high]

79. It was not white suburbanites

who cheered the destruction.

[pipi_k]

22. I know...

I couldn't believe what I was reading, but then I guess there are some people who can't see beyond the obvious, which was that people were mourning more than just the loss of the building.

It was a place for people to get prescriptions and other stuff without having to walk or drive across town (or however far the nearest other one is).

It's about people's livelihoods. Maybe some of those people who worked there had been on welfare or otherwise unemployed for a long time. While a job at CVS isn't going to make someone rich, it was at least a job and meant the ability to afford food, rent, etc.


People "more concerned" about Freddie Gray than a bunch of burned down businesses. Well, unfortunately, poor Freddie Gray is beyond help now and all the "concern" in the world isn't going to bring him back.

And if poverty is a factor in why people get into trouble and commit crimes, then someone has to seriously be concerned about the people whose lives will be affected by those rioters. Because not to be concerned about them only means they, or their children, could very well become victims just like Freddie Gray.

[ChazII]

64. pipi_k thank you

Your observation is one of commons sense. Yes, working at CVS will not making anyone rich who works hourly but it was a job and those folks had money coming to pay rent and food as you pointed out.

[Harmony Blue]

40. This cycle will repeat itself

because we fail to learn from the past.

[melman]

63. When you burn stuff down they build better stuff

I read it right here so it must be true.

[ScreamingMeemie]

73. I'm not speaking about those who lost their jobs, and I hope they can find other (at least

the minimum wage they were being paid at CVS) employment at worthwhile companies who treat them right.

As for CVS? The dismissed me and my "OBamacare" (that's right, that's what the counter person said) a year ago, so fuck'em. I'd like to see CVS go under nationwide.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that this is disingenuous as hell, when we're shouting at people to boycott Walmart and Chick fil A who happen to employ people too.

Thanks for considering.

[951-Riverside]

6. Did they speak out against Freddy getting his spine getting severed by the Police? n/t

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

8. Fuck 'em, right?

Your act is wearing thin, by the by. You're not fooling anyone, at least anyone with sense.

[951-Riverside]

9. Your words not mine n/t

[ForgoTheConsequence]

10. What? Their lives were just turned upside down and this is what you've got?

You can care about both, but what happens to you in the immediate is going to take precedent.

[riderinthestorm]

12. Even Freddie Gray's family is against the violence

for others it's not a zero sum game. You can be both aghast and deeply angry at the police for what happened to Freddie Gray and upset at the destruction in their community.

[WillowTree]

15. Ah.....so now we're into "two wrongs make a right" mode.

Do you suppose these peoples' hardship in the form of lost wages through absolutely no fault of their own will somehow repair Freddie's spine and bring him back from the dead?

Such nonsense!!

[Harmony Blue]

41. How do you know the position of the person being intervewied?

They were asked what the impact of being jobless was and they provided their feelings.

[951-Riverside]

81. I never said I did n/t

[GGJohn]

80. Do you know if they did or didn't?

WTF does that got to do with them losing their jobs because some punks decided to loot and burn private businesses?

[LanternWaste]

11. We should then feel lucky that none of these employees were also...

We should then feel lucky that none of these employees were also killed due to a severed spine and denied medical attention when required and requested.

[riderinthestorm]

14. Why does it have to be either or?

are you denying these folks their despair over their ruined community?

You are invalidating these AA voices from the community. Shameful.

[ForgoTheConsequence]

17. Of course they don't care about the AA community.

They never have.

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

77. Who doesnt care about the AA community?

[ForgoTheConsequence]

16. Feel free to go tell them that.

You wouldn't dare. Rioting and looting is pornography for a certain type of "liberal".

[BlueStater]

61. Yeah, at least they're not dead, right?

Maybe someone should burn down the building you work and put you out of a job and you can tell yourself how lucky you are.

And for FFS, stop repeating your post title in the actual message. It's annoying.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

13. The "You gotta break some eggs to make an omlette" crew has arrived

Sickening.

[ForgoTheConsequence]

19. Meanwhile they've neither broken or lost anything.

They have no skin in the game. But you can bet your ass as soon as the riots got to their lilly white suburbs they would be calling 911.

[uppityperson]

18. how awful, to lose your income during protests against community members being murdered by police.

[riderinthestorm]

26. I doubt another CVS will be built. The insurance will be prohibitive

Do we have a tally of how many other businesses are similarly ruined?

[justhanginon]

29. I live in the St. Louis area and we see on local TV the

business owners in the impacted areas of Ferguson asking for people to please come back and patronize them again. A few have just thrown in the towel and gone out of business altogether.
I used to live in that very area of Ferguson and friends of mine used to meet me as a halfway point around there for lunch. I have tried and I cannot get them to come anywhere near the area. Then last night there was trouble again as shots were fired during a demonstration, two people were hit and a store was looted for the third time. It is a sad situation and so many innocent people are being impacted. Jobs lost, businesses closed and lives probably ruined by now having criminal records as they slowly identify some of the looters and arsonists form in store cameras and showing the pictures on TV.
What makes it even sadder, north st. louis county is not generally a particularly prosperous area but it was beginning to make good progress with restaurants and small owner occupied stores when the rioting hit. I truly hope it can come back but it will be a long hard slog.

[Capt. Obvious]

21. And some racists here cheered on the burning of that CVS.

[Hutzpa]

30. Some of the comments on this thread is mind boggling

the double standard is shocking, on the one hand most of you commenting are against capitalism yet are quick to
defend the very definition of capitalism, yet failed to see the the root of the problem. She has not lost her job, she
has temporarily lose access to her nearest location. Let's stop with all the pandering and address the root cause of
all of this destruction. :smh:

[riderinthestorm]

31. The title: CVS (now jobless) employees speak out against violence in Baltimore.

these folks have lost their jobs. And are lamenting the destruction of their community.

And the murder of Freddie Gray.

These are not un-related related things and cavalierly dismissing the AA voices on the video in the OP is very belittling.

[Hutzpa]

33. Correction

They have not lost their jobs, they have lost the PLACE of work. Let's stop with incorrect analysis of the situation, it does not solve the problem.

[DURHAM D]

35. To quote Hillary Clinton -

What difference does it make?

[riderinthestorm]

36. Ooookay. This neighborhood has a 20% unemployment rate

And virtually everyone lives under the $25k poverty rate. The fact that there are so few places to work there is a major part of the problem.

Your smug nonchalance of the realities of these neighborhoods is despicable.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/crime/2015/04/freddie_gray_death_a_closer_look_at_the_tragically_impoverished_and_violent.html


http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2015/04/28/3651951/baltimore-freddie-gray-economic/

[Hutzpa]

37. What's with all the fucking insult? nt

[pipi_k]

42. She has lost her job

for whatever length of time it takes for that CVS to reopen, IF it ever does.

And if it doesn't reopen, but she's offered a job at another CVS, it could be on the other side of town. At a distance that, if she doesn't have access to a car, she might very well have to take multiple buses to get to.

Then there's the senior center, which I'm assuming hadn't been opened yet, but the people who could have worked there have lost their jobs. That senior center also contained affordable housing units that people now cannot live in. The entire building is a total loss. Sixteen million dollars down the drain.

Some people had stores that may or may not have been covered by insurance. If you're just scraping by on what you make in your store, you probably can't afford insurance. What do those people do now?


PS...and people can dislike Capitalism but be realistic enough to know that people who live here must live with the reality of Capitalism.

[Hutzpa]

45. .

PS...and people can dislike Capitalism but be realistic enough to know that people who live here must live with the reality of Capitalism.

Hence the double standard.

[uppityperson]

54. are you saying all the employees are still working the same, just in another location?

Same number of hours, same pay, just another place? Is that what you are saying?

[Ms. Toad]

69. Please link to your source.

I have not seen any statement from CVS that suggests this is true - and would be astounded if CVS made room for the employees of the burned down location in other CVS stores.

[Hutzpa]

70. Neither have you seen any statement from CVS suggesting she will lose her

see how moot your point is.

[Ms. Toad]

72. Basic economic reality.

The store no longer exists. There is no job.

[ForgoTheConsequence]

32. She didn't lose her job?

It burned down! How do you know she will be able to get to the next location? How do you know she will have money to make it until she finds more work? You're completely ignorant of the plight of these people. Way to dismiss their plight because it doesn't fit YOUR narrative. Disgusting.

[Hutzpa]

34. Was she fired from her job?

Was she told to live and never to return? If so, do you have proof that she was fired?

[ForgoTheConsequence]

39. HER JOB ISN'T FUCKING THERE ANYMORE

I didn't say she was fired. Jesus Christ.


You wouldn't dare tell the woman in that video that she isn't "jobless" now.

[Hutzpa]

44. She will still get her job in another location

but Freddie Gray will never walk this earth again. Do you see the difference between your argument and mine?

Need to calm down a bit and use some common sense.

[ForgoTheConsequence]

46. She will?

How do you know that? How do you know she has the means to get to another location? How do you know she has the money to make it until another location picks her up? You have no idea how things work in the real world.

You can care about both, they're not exclusive, and when you dismiss the plight of wage earning people suffering in this community you make yourself look like an ignorant implicit racist. More people suffering isn't going to bring Gray back, burning down apartments for low income seniors isn't going to bring back Gray.

[Hutzpa]

47. "when you dismiss the plight of wage earning people suffering in this community"

I'd like to see where I dismissed wage earning?

Sure more people suffering is not going to bring back Freddie, but if takes this much outrage to bring attention to
police brutality that has gone on for decades I say more power to them.

[ForgoTheConsequence]

48. I would love to see you justify it to that womans face.

You wouldn't dare.


And fuck those low income seniors right? The end justifies the means?

[Hutzpa]

50. omg! you have misplaced anger

She needs consoling, not justification. Justification comes from those that will be working their hardest to rebuild the community all
the while providing access to community leaders that funds provided to them will be used to rebuild their community.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

82. It is stunning the ivory tower some people live in

Your earlier comments about commenting from the safety of the suburbs ring more true every minute.

[uppityperson]

56. How do you know that she will simply have her position and pay transferred to another store? what ma

you believe that? Thanks for the link, in advance.

[Hutzpa]

59. I've just responded to this very ssame question below. nt

[uppityperson]

55. can she expect her regular paycheck in a couple weeks? have you proof she can?

[Hutzpa]

58. All pointless, I don't have to provide proof but common sense dictates otherwise

and I'll explain. When it comes to big businesses there is always a contingency plan in place that accounts for disaster, for example
Hurricanes, tornadoes and things to that nature. CVS will have something similar in place that I'm sure will compensate for man
made disaster.

[ForgoTheConsequence]

60. It will compensate them, not her.

Try reading the thread, this has already been addressed.

[Hutzpa]

62. Why should she lose her job on something she has no control over?

She was at the job when protesters walked in, as far as workers right goes she has not done anything besides being at her place of
work, so why shouldn't CVS compensate her?

[riderinthestorm]

67. Lol!!! Clearly you've never been a retail hourly slave! CVS has no obligations to her

or any of the rest of the staff.



Big corporations like CVS don't care about their hourly retail slaves. These employees are SOL.

[Hutzpa]

68. wtf are you talking about?

What has hourly wage got to do with her not having a place to do her work, which was obviously caused by the protesters rioting at
the location of her store?

[riderinthestorm]

75. There is no store there anymore. It's gone. So no jobs any more

and CVS isn't going to produce jobs out of thin air for hourly retail staff or just pay them while they are unemployed.

They just won't unless you have ANY example from history demonstrating anywhere from any national retail that has done so.

[Ms. Toad]

71. Because the job no longer exists.

CVS is not just going to manufacture jobs out of thin air for employees of a store which no longer exists. They have zero income from that store for the foreseeable future. They are not going to compound that by adding unneeded employees at another location.

You do not seem to understand basic economic reality.

[X_Digger]

92. Derp, how many hours will she work this week? Oh, zero? Well fucking duh, that's a $0 paycheck.

All you "I'm sure that.." bullshit doesn't have anything to do with reality.

Having worked at a business destroyed by a hurricane, I can say that you're absolutely wrong. (Andrew, '94).

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

83. LOL

I worked for the state in a park....after a major hurricane they just laid us all off for the season. Lost two full months of work and instead took early unemployment compensation that ran out before it normally would to pull me through the winter.

Good lord, get a clue. I'm sure CVS will do "whatever they can" to help, but these people want to work and earn an honest day's pay! Amazing!!!

[cherokeeprogressive]

89. Common sense paid MY bills for a couple years once... I got over it. All they need is common sense.

Common sense and good walking shoes.

[Ms. Toad]

74. Yes, they are. Most of yours included in that category.

Do you really not understand that when a store vanishes (for whatever reason), the jobs vanish with it?

[snooper2]

38. I'm glad these videos are getting out of real people on the ground, instead of random musings by

people on the intertubes who don't have a clue-


BURN IT DOWN!

Um, then what tools?

[Harmony Blue]

43. They made the right choice to leave their place of employment

as they feared for their lives.

[sarisataka]

49. Has anyone seen an announcement

by CVS on what will happen to the employees of this store?

I could find instructions on where customers could get their prescriptions, tweets of thanks for support from the community, announcement of concern for the safety of their customers and employees...

But nothing about relocating or supporting the employees of this location. Store 3976 has been scrubbed from existence at cvs.com.

[99Forever]

51. Okay, and if the PTB HAD listened to..

...and taken action when the protests were peaceful, that CVS would still be standing and the employees working.

Learn anything yet?

[Harmony Blue]

52. Nothing has been accomplished in the end

all this has done is polarized the country even more with nothing to show for it.

Congrats?

[99Forever]

53. Any of your friends and family been gunned down like animals in the street...

...for no good reason?

Till that happens repeatly to YOU for a few decades, save the sanctimonious self-righteous moralizing for Faux news crowd. This old hippy ain't buying it.

[Harmony Blue]

57. I watched my neighborhood burn down

and my school play ground burn down during the Los Angeles riots.

Thanks for your concern though.

[840high]

84. Totally agree with you.

[matt819]

65. Here's a thought

Rather then speculate, why don't we wait and see how cvs deals with this before assuming they'll close up shop and drmnuxinb them.

[riderinthestorm]

66. And they survive on what wages in this high unemployment zone

thats already facing tremendous economic problems?

How soon do you think CVS will re-open, if ever?

Do you have some kind of info about whose providing their salaries and/or a timeline for re-building? Because past indicators overwhelmingly indicate this neighborhood is going to be without a pharmacy or CVS for many years to come.

[840high]

86. Where I live we had a

store close because of high theft. Never reopened and that building is still empty.

[riderinthestorm]

87. Yup. History shows what happens post riot in these neighborhoods

the stores and shops do not come back, blighting an already desperate economic zone.

[cherokeeprogressive]

88. Meh. They'll find other jobs. I'm sure they can use the exercise of walking to jobs farther away.

Besides, how many of them died?

/sarcasm