Companies

  • J. Alexander's

    Added May 4, 2020

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    J. Alexander's is a casual restaurant chain headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. The first restaurant opened in 1991 and J. Alexander’s went public in 2015. In 2017, they acquired the popular 99 restaurant chain. J. Alexander’s now has 46 restaurants in 16 different states.

    • Despite being a publicly traded company, J. Alexander’s applied for and secured a $15.1 million forgivable Paycheck Protection loan intended for struggling small businesses.
    • It should be noted that they returned the money after publicity regarding this loan went viral.

    More info about J. Alexander's...

  • JBS Holdings

    Added May 8, 2020

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    JBS USA Holdings is an American food processing company that is wholly owned by Brazilian Company, JBS S.A. JBS is the world’s largest processor of beef and pork, raking in more the $50 billion in annual sales. JBS USA is headquartered in Greeley, CO.

    • The meatpacking industry has always had a notorious reputation for poor working conditions and Covid-19 has only made this more apparent. Currently meat and poultry employees have among the highest illness rates of all manufacturing employees and are the least likely to report said illnesses for fear of repercussions.
    • JBS failed to provide PPE equipment to their workers during the Covid-19 outbreak. Furthermore, they also did not properly inform their workers about the virus or the virus’ presence within their plants. A daughter of a JBS worker who was diagnosed with Covid-19, stated that “JBS officials failed to immediately inform workers of COVID cases at the plant and ignored her calls when her father was diagnosed.”
    • Currently, a JBS facility in Grand Island, Nebraska has chosen to remain open even though 7.5 of every 1,000 workers have tested positive.
    • It should also be noted that recently certain JBS plants have started to implement preventative measures including providing masks, staggering shifts and breaks, temperature check, plexiglass dividers and daily cleanings.

    More info about JBS Holdings...

  • Johnson and Johnson

    Added Apr 9, 2020

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    Johnson & Johnson is an American corporation which engages in the research and development, manufacture and sale of products in the health care field. J&J was founded in 1886 and now includes around 250 subsidiary companies with operations in 60 countries. It’s products are sold in over 175 countries.

    More info about Johnson and Johnson...

  • Levi Strauss & Co

    Added May 14, 2020

    Levis

    Levi Strauss & Co is an American clothing company best known for its distinctive blue jeans. Levi's employs 15,100 workers and earned $5.5B in revenue in 2018.

    More info about Levi Strauss & Co...

  • Luckin Coffee

    Added May 29, 2020

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    Luckin Coffee is a publicly traded Chinese coffeehouse chain. Luckin was founded in Beijing in 2017 and rapidly grew to include over 4,500 locations by January 2020. In fact, Luckin Coffees growth was so quick that the number of Luckin coffee locations exceeded the number of Starbucks shops in under 3 years.

    • Luckin Coffee found itself in hot waters after having falsified financial and operational figures. A report, published by short-selling firm, Muddy Waters Research, claimed that Luckin inflated their numbers by up to 88%. After an internal investigation, Luckin Coffee announced that their COO, Jian Liu, had indeed fabricated the company’s 2019 sales by about $310 million USD.
    • The Wall Street Journal, investigated these claims further and found that a network of fake buyers and a made-up employee also helped drive the company's "growth".
    • On April 8, the U.S. stock market halted trading on all Luckin shares and on May 12, CEO Jenny Zhiya Qian and COO Jian Liu were relieved of their positions. As of May 20, 2020, Luckin Coffee stock was able to be traded again.

    More info about Luckin Coffee...

  • Macy's

    Added May 14, 2020

    Macy's

    Macy's is an American chain of department stores headquartered in New York City. Macy's employs 130,000 workers across 551 locations.

    • During the COVID-19 crisis, Macy's furloughed most of its workers, while simultaneously paying out $116M in dividends. Macy's earned $564M in profit in 2019.
    • To Macy's credit, it is still paying its furloughed employees' health insurance.

    More info about Macy's...

  • Marriott International

    Added May 14, 2020

    Marriott

    Marriott International is an global chain of hotels and other hospitality facilities, with nearly 7,000 locations worldwide. Marriott earned revenues of over $20B in 2018 and employs ~176,000 workers.

    • During the COVID-19 crisis, Marriott furloughed most of its American workers. However, at the same time, it paid out more than $160M in quarterly dividends, while its board voted to give CEO Arne Sorenson a 7.7% raise. Marriott earned $1.2B in profits in 2019.

    More info about Marriott International...

  • Nathan's Famous

    Added May 5, 2020

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    Nathan's Famous is a chain of fast food restaurants specializing in hot dogs. The original Nathan's restaurant was founded in 1916 in the Coney Island neighborhood of New York City. Nathan’s is also famous for their annual 4th of July hot dog eating contest, where contestants try to eat as many hot dogs as possible in 10 minutes.

    • Despite being a publicly traded company, Nathan’s Famous applied for and secured a $1.2 million forgivable Paycheck Protection loan intended for struggling small businesses.
    • It should be noted that they returned the money after publicity regarding this loan went viral.

    More info about Nathan's Famous...

  • Petco

    Added May 13, 2020

    Petco

    Petco is a American pet supply store with over 1,500 locations. Offering supplies such as food, furniture, and services such as pet grooming, Petco employs over 25,000 workers.

    • Despite not being deemed an essential service in most areas, Petco has refused to shut down its pet grooming services during the corona virus pandemic, putting customers and employees at unnecessary risk.
    • Employees say it is impossible to be six feet away from customers in their grooming salons.

    More info about Petco...

  • PetSmart

    Added May 12, 2020

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    PetSmart is a retail chain selling pet goods such as food, furniture, accessories, and services such as pet grooming. PetSmart has over 1,600 locations and employs over 53,000 workers.

    • Defying stay-at-home orders in some areas, PetSmart opted to reopen pet grooming services at some of its locations in early April 2020, enticing customers to violate such orders and putting employees at risk.
    • Though claiming it did so in order to satisfy pent-up demand from customers, this claim is put in to question by PetSmart simultaneously ran an $11.6M advertising campaign for its pet grooming service.
    • PetSmart also makes the claim that its associates had asked them to reopen. This may be true, but it is also clear that many employees did not feel safe returning to work.

    More info about PetSmart...

  • Potbelly

    Added Apr 29, 2020

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    Potbelly Corporation is a publicly traded restaurant chain with almost 500 locations. Headquartered in Chicago, Potbelly is best known for their submarine sandwiches and “olden time” décor.

    • Despite having around 7,000 employees, Potbelly applied for and secured a $10 million forgivable Paycheck Protection loan intended for small businesses from JPMorgan Chase.
    • Just four days before Potbelly publicly secured their loan they paid an exec a $100,000 bonus even though the company announced on March 30 that it would temporarily reduce senior executive pay by 25 percent due to the pandemic.
    • It should be noted that they returned the money after publicity regarding this loan went viral.

    More info about Potbelly...

  • Purdue Pharma

    Added Apr 22, 2020

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    Purdue Pharma is a global drug company founded in 1892. Employing more than 5,000 workers worldwide, Purdue is known for making opioid-based painkillers, most notably it's flagship product, OxyContin.

    • Purdue aggressively pushed doctors to prescribe OxyContin, courting doctors with paid trips and speaking engagements
    • Purdue actively marketed OxyContin as a drug with a low potential for abuse, even though that claim came with little scientific evidence
    • As reports of OxyContin abuse and addiction flooded in during the early 2000s, Purdue continued to aggressively push the drug, despite knowing that it was being abused and had a high potential for addiction
    • In the 2010s, as the opioid crisis in the United States grew in intensity and doctors began prescribing OxyContin less frequently, Purdue began using similar techniques that had been so successful in the United States to drive OxyContin sales in foreign countries.

    More info about Purdue Pharma...

  • Refinery29

    Added Jun 18, 2020

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    Refinery29 is an American women’s lifestyle media organization. The popular website was founded in 2005 and has over 450 global employees. Since it’s launch, Refinery29 has also expanded to include websites for the UK and German populations.

    • On Monday, June 8th, Christene Barberich, the top editor and co-founder of Refinery stated that she would be stepping down from her leadership position after a number of employees came forward on social media describing the toxic work environment that they faced.
    • Racial discrimination was one of the driving factors of Refinery29’s poor work environment. Employees mentioned racial pay disparity and being constantly “mixed up” for other employees of color as two of their major complaints. One former senior editor, Ashley Alese Edwards, who now works at Google, stated that the concerns she raised were routinely ignored and that her job title did not reflect her experience or duties at the company.

    More info about Refinery29...

  • Ruth's Chris Steak House

    Added Apr 28, 2020

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    Ruth's Chris Steak House is a chain of steakhouses with over 100 locations across North America. Its workforce comprises more than 5000 employees. Ruth's Chris has been a publicly traded company since 2005.

    More info about Ruth's Chris Steak House...

  • Shake Shack

    Added Apr 21, 2020

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    Shake Shack is a casual restaurant chain based in New York City. After its 2001 beginning in a shack in Central Park, and its popularity grew until it became the well-known burgers-and-shakes chain it is today.

    More info about Shake Shack...