 | The examples and perspective in this article deal primarily with the United States and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject.(April 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) |
Strikes occurred during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic due to many factors including: hazard pay or low pay, unsafe working conditions (due to poor social distancing or a lack of personal protective equipment), inability to pay rent.
Strikes occurred in mid-March 2020 in Italy [1] , and late March 2020 at Instacart, [2] [3] Amazon, [4] [2] and Whole Foods [5] (which is owned by Amazon), as well as other locations.
In New York City, the Amazon worker who organized the strikes in the United States was soon fired [6] [7] and New York City mayor Bill De Blasio has ordered an investigation [8] . Amazon executives had planned to smear the reputation of the organizer [9] . Amazon workers near Milan, Italy held a strike in mid-March to protest hazardous working conditions. [10] On April 1, 2020 Amazon warehouse workers in Michigan planned a strike over PPE protections for the coronavirus. [11] Amazon workers have been tracking known cases of the coronavirus in the US and Europe on Reddit, due to a lack of transparency from upper management. [12] Amazon workers again went on strike over safe working conditions on Monday April 6 in Staten Island [13] .
Public sector doctors and nurses in Hong Kong went on strike for two weeks in late January and early February to protest against the Hong Kong government's refusal to close borders to contain the growing epidemic. Healthcare worker unions warned that the healthcare system would inevitably collapse unless strict border quarantine with Mainland China was enacted. [14]
In Papua New Guinea, 4000 nurses are expected to strike over hazardous working conditions. [15] Doctors and nurses in public hospitals in Zimbabwe held a strike due to a lack of protective equipment. [16] Sanitation workers in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania [17] and Medway, UK [18] went on strike over protective equipment. Doctors in Hong Kong, [19] Jalalabad, [20] Jakarta [21] and Islamabad [22] all threatened strikes over a lack of protective equipment.
In Australia, shift workers walked off the job at a Coles distribution centre in Victoria to demand more safety measures over COVID-19. The demands were proper provision and enforcement of social distancing measures and additional supplies of antibacterial wipes, and the strike was successful in securing these measures [23] . Workers at a Barnes & Noble warehouse in New Jersey went on strike on April 7 after 9 workers tested positive for Covid-19]] [24] .
Wharf workers were stood down in the Port of Melbourne after they refused to unload cargo from a Chinese ship due to fears about coronavirus safety [25] .
On March 17 in Detroit, Michigan, bus drivers went on a wildcat strike [26] over safety items like masks and cleaning of busses, and by the next day the drivers had all their demands granted [27] . Bus drivers in Birmingham, Alabama also went on strike [28] .
Other strikes occurred at a McDonalds [29] in San Jose California, where workers complained that they did not have enough soap to clean their hands [30] , and 20 workers at a McDonalds in Cicero, Illinois went on strike over paid sick days required by Illinois law, the walkout lasted 30 minutes and won the workers the paid sick leave [31] . Around 100 restaurant and retail employees in Durham and Raleigh, North Carolina went on a single day digital strike against unsafe working conditions and low pay and reduced hours. [32] In April 2020, workers at 30 restaurants went on strike over safety conditions [33] .
In Kent, United Kingdom, bin collectors and street cleaners working for Medway Council's contractor, Norse Group, balloted unanimously to strike over a lack of protective clothing and unsafe conditions regarding the virus. [34] The strikes were called off after a deal was reached. [35]
Workers at General Electric walked off the job demanding to re-tool the factories to make ventilators, [36] which are in dire short supply due to the pandemic. Several dozen food packagers working for Linden Foods in Dungannon, Northern Ireland walked out of work due to safety conditions. [37] 500 workers walked out of work at ASOS in the UK because the workers wanted to maintain social distancing. [38] Trade Unions in Lombardy, Italy have been threatening and organising strikes over working conditions. [39] [40] Workers at a Fiat Chrysler factory in Warren, Michigan went on strike over hot water for washing [41] . In Memphis, Tennessee 200 workers at a Kroger warehouse went on strike after discovering that a colleague had covid-19 [42] . 50 workers at a Purdue poultry processing plant in Kathleen, Georgia went on strike over working conditions and hazard pay [43] .
Many commercial tenants, notably retailers, have called the situation a "force majeure" [44] as rationale for voiding lease agreements, although landlords still have to make mortgage payments. [44] These include Cheesecake Factory, [45] [46] Mattress Firm [47] and Subway [44] have refused to pay April 2020 rent due to the pandemic, [48] and resulting unemployment. [49] [50]
In the UK all eviction proceedings have been suspended, and a three-month, extendable, moratorium on new proceedings imposed. [51] In addition household assistance of various forms has been made available to domestic tenants, and support for landlords has been extended via the banks. [51]
According to the National Multifamily Housing Council, 69 percent of American renters were on time with rent by April 5, 2020, as compared to 81 percent in March 2020 [52] .
On April 1, 32 residential tenants in Chicago went on strike. [53] One Los Angeles landlord, while trying to prevent a rent strike by emailing 300 tenants that they owe rent, inadvertently caused one by cc'ing, and not bcc'ing those tenants on the list who used the contact information to coordinate a strike [54] . A solitary renter in Colorado went on strike [55] . A group of at least 20 tenants went on strike in Oakland, California [56] . Almost a dozen renters in Austin Texas went on rent strike in one building [57] .
On April 8, 13 Philadelphia households went on rent strike. [58]
Rent Strike 2020 is an activist organization that was formed during the 2020 pandemic to promote widespread rent strikes. [59] [60] In Chicago, the Autonomous Tenant's Union has been advocating rent freezes as well as mortgage freezes and utility freezes. [61] A group of 100 renters in Kent, Ohio formed the Kent Tenants Union, which created a list of demands to pay rent [62] .
A petition organised by the Kulin Nations (Melbourne) branch of the Industrial Workers of the World recorded nearly 20,000 signatures on its page. [63] This prompted the organisation of rent strike support groups in preparation for March 31st, when renters from multiple Council areas sent letters of demand to real estate companies and landlords stating their intention to cease paying rent beginning in April. Initial organisation came before announcement of a moratorium on evictions for six months by the Australian Federal government, and continued afterwards. [64]
A hunger strike occurred at York County Prison in Pennsylvania. [65] Another hunger strike happened in Otay Mesa, San Diego, California on April 17, 2020 at the Otay Mesa Detention Center [66] .
In Italy a planned airline transport strike unrelated to COVID-19 was postponed in February 2020 [67] .
Amazon.com, Inc., is an American multinational conglomerate technology company based in Seattle, with 750,000 employees. It focuses on e-commerce, cloud computing, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. It is considered one of the Big Four tech companies, along with Google, Apple, and Microsoft. It has been referred to as "one of the most influential economic and cultural forces in the world."
Rent control in the United States refers to laws or ordinances that set price controls on the rent of residential housing to function as a price ceiling.
A landlord is the owner of a house, apartment, condominium, land, or real estate which is rented or leased to an individual or business, who is called a tenant. When a juristic person is in this position, the term landlord is used. Other terms include lessor and owner. The term landlady may be used for female owners, and lessor may be used regardless of gender. The manager of a pub in the United Kingdom, strictly speaking a licensed victualler, is referred to as the landlord/lady.
Eviction is the removal of a tenant from rental property by the landlord. In some jurisdictions it may also involve the removal of persons from premises that were foreclosed by a mortgagee.
A lease is a contractual arrangement calling for the lessee (user) to pay the lessor (owner) for use of an asset. Property, buildings and vehicles are common assets that are leased. Industrial or business equipment is also leased.
A rent strike is a method of protest commonly employed against large landlords. In a rent strike, a group of tenants come together and agree to refuse to pay their rent en masse until a specific list of demands is met by the landlord. This can be a useful tactic of final resort for use against intransigent landlords, but carries the obvious risk of eviction and bad credit history in some cases.
A furlough is a temporary leave of employees due to special needs of a company or employer, which may be due to economic conditions at the specific employer or in the economy as a whole. These involuntary furloughs may be short or long term, and many of those affected may seek other temporary employment during that time.
The procedure and rate of eviction in the United States varies by locality. Landlord-initiated expulsion of tenants is not officially tracked or monitored by the Federal government, and has historically not been subject to comprehensive analysis. The 2016 publication of the book Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond raised awareness of the issue. A database created by Desmond found that landlords had been granted eviction notices for one in 50 renter households in analyzed regions. This rate only counts evictions that engage the legal process, as many evictions are informally conducted between landlords and renters, it likely undercounts actual evictions.
The 2020 coronavirus pandemic in Singapore is part of the ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a novel infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).
The ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019, a novel infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, spread to the United States in January 2020. The first U.S. case was identified on January 20, in a man who had returned from Wuhan, China to Snohomish County, Washington on January 15. The first report of a U.S. death came on February 29. An earlier U.S. death, on February 6, was determined in late April, and is believed to be community transmission. By the end of March, cases had occurred in all 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and all inhabited U.S. territories except American Samoa. By April 11, the federal government approved disaster declarations for all states and inhabited territories except American Samoa. As of April 24, the U.S. death rate was 152 per million people, the tenth highest rate globally.
The 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic was confirmed to have spread to Spain on 31 January 2020, when a German tourist tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 in La Gomera, Canary Islands. Post-hoc genetic analysis has shown that at least 15 strains of the virus were imported and community transmission had begun by mid-February. By 13 March, cases had been confirmed in all 50 provinces of the country.
The 2020 coronavirus pandemic in Trinidad and Tobago is part of the ongoing global viral pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which was confirmed to have reached the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago on 12 March 2020.
COVID-19 was confirmed to have reached the U.S. state of North Carolina on March 3, 2020.
The 2020 coronavirus pandemic in British Columbia is an ongoing 2019–20 worldwide viral pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a novel infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). On January 28, British Columbia became the second province to confirm a case of COVID-19 in Canada. The first case of infection was reported on January 28, where the patient had recently returned from Wuhan, Hubei province, China. The first case of community transmission in Canada was confirmed in British Columbia on March 5. As of April 28, 2020, the BC Centre for Disease Control has announced 2,053 confirmed cases, 1,231 recoveries, and 105 deaths. As of April 26, 2020, 78,805 people have been tested for the virus in British Columbia.
The 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic has affected educational systems worldwide, leading to the near-total closures of schools, universities and colleges.
The first COVID-19 case was confirmed in New York City in March 2020 in a woman who had recently traveled to New York City from Iran, a country seriously affected already by the 2020 coronavirus pandemic at the time. Nearly a month later, the metropolitan area was the worst-affected area in the country, with its medical infrastructure overtaxed.
The 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic affects the global food industry as governments close down restaurants and bars to slow the spread of the virus. Across the world, restaurants' daily traffic dropped precipitously compared to the same period in 2019. Closures of restaurants caused a ripple effect among related industries such as food production, liquor, wine, and beer production, food and beverage shipping, fishing, and farming.
The 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic has affected many science, space and technology institutions and government agencies worldwide, leading to reduced productivity on a number of fields and programs.
The worldwide disruption caused due to the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic has resulted in numerous impacts on the environment and the climate. The severe decline in planned travel has caused many regions to experience a drop in air pollution. In China, lockdowns and other measures resulted in a 25 percent reduction in carbon emissions, which one Earth systems scientist estimated may have saved at least 77,000 lives over two months. However, the outbreak has also disrupted environmental diplomacy efforts, including causing the postponement of the 2020 United Nations Climate Change Conference, and the economic fallout from it is predicted to slow investment in green energy technologies.
This article is a summary of the social distancing measures related to the 2019-20 coronavirus pandemic.
