Companies

ASOS.com is a British online fashion retailer primarily aimed at young adults. The company was founded in 2000 in London and ships to 196 countries! The primary stake holder, Anders Povlsen has an estimated net worth of more than $11 billion.

• Multiple Asos employees and warehouse workers have come forward alleging that the company is disallowing them to wear protective equipment while on the job. Due to the nature of the warehouse, these employees are working in very tight quarters to one another.
• One Facebook post from a union group called GMB revealed that as many as three ambulances were called to one ASOS fulfillment center in a single day over an alleged COVID-19 outbreak within the warehouse.
• Asos’ CEO has disputed these claims from his twitter account.

AutoNation, a national network of auto sellers, provides buyers with new and pre-used vehicles throughout the United States. AutoNation was founded in 1996 and has more than 360 retail outlets.

• AutoNation received more than $77 million in federal small-business funds despite being a company worth billions that employed more than 26,000 people before the pandemic.
• It should be noted that they returned the money after publicity regarding this loan went viral.

Axios is an American news website that was founded in 2016 and launched in 2017. Since their inception, Axios has managed to raise $57 Million in funding over 3 rounds. Axios is known for their digital media presence from Facebook and Snapchat to their own website.

• Despitebeing backed by numerous billionaires and big name companies, Axios applied for and secured a $5 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.

Bird is a shared electric scooted company based in Santa Monica, CA. Bird was founded in 2017 and since then has expanded to over 100 cities in Europe, the Middle East, and North America. Bird saw much early success with their scooters logging over 10 million rides in its first year of operation.

• On March 27th, 2020, Bird sent a mandatory one-way Zoom call invite to over 400 of their employees with no explanation. When the employees logged onto the Zoom call they were met with a woman’s voice that began reading a scripted speech, informing the attendees that they had all been laid off. The speech was only two minutes, at which point the call ended without giving the employees a chance to ask questions. Immediately afterwards the laid off employees were also automatically logged out of their company email and slack accounts.

Cargill, Inc. is a U.S. based privately held global corporation that focuses on purchasing and trading agricultural commodities. Founded in 1865, it is the largest privately held corporation in the United States in terms of revenue. In 2018, their revenue exceeded $114 billion. Cargill employs over 166,000 employees in 66 countries. A subsidiary of Cargill Inc, Cargill Meat Solutions, recently came under fire for employee mistreatment during Covid-19.

• 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.
• At Cargill’s High River slaughterhouse, supervisors were given N95 masks and plastic face shields while workers claim it was weeks before they were even given paper and/or cloth face masks. 900 of the plants 2,200 employees became ill with Covid-19.
• Cargill decided to not tell employees about their colleagues who were falling ill in an effort to keep everyone working. In fact, one Cargill meat plant didn’t tell employees about the illness racing through the plant until 130 employees had already tested positive. One worker even stated that he was told to remove his mask because “it was creating unnecessary fears among plant employees”. A few weeks later that worker died of Covid-19.
• According Bloomberg who interviewed 32 workers, supervisors were telling symptomatic employees without high fevers to simply take acetaminophen and keep working.

Caterpillar, Inc. is a Fortune 100 company which designs, develops, manufactures, and sells construction equipment and machinery. Caterpillar employs over 100,000 workers and earned revenue of $54.7B in 2018.

• Despite having to shut down three major plants during the COVID-19 crisis, Caterpillar still opted to distribute $500M to shareholders via dividends.

GameStop is the world’s largest video game retail chain. The company is headquartered in Grapevine, TX and has over 5,800 retail stores throughout the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Europe.

• GameStop tried to defy orders and argue that it was essential after it was told to shut down. It remained open until March 21st.
• In a memo from GameStop, employees were told to “tape a GameStop plastic bag over their hand and arm” while handling credit cards.

Hobby Lobby is a private for-profit corporation which owns a chain of American arts and crafts stores. Hobby Lobby was first established in 1972 and has grown to over 900 locations within the United States. Hobby Lobby CEO, David Green, has an estimated net worth of over $7 billion.

• Hobby Lobby has been under constant scrutiny in the past from multiple scandals. Some of the more prominent scandals that Hobby Lobby has been under fire for in recent years are the illegal antiquities trading scandal, the health insurance scandal, and the Dead Sea Scrolls scandal.
• When Covid-19 first emerged, Hobby Lobby CEO, David Green, wrote a letter to his staff urging employees tocontinue working despite wide scale shutdowns of similar business around the United States. Green even allegedly cited in his letter that his wife “received word from god” that it would be ok to stay open and keep working.

Holland America Line is a cruise line headquartered in Seattle, Washington, and offering cruises throughout the world on its 15 ships.

• Due to travel restrictions, many crew members have been stuck on cruise ships since the outbreak of the corona virus. However, Holland America has opted not to pay those crew members who are not necessary for the essential operations of the ships, leaving employees stranded without pay on a ship with no opportunity to try and find employment elsewhere.
• It should be noted that other cruise lines with employees in the same situation opted to pay stranded employees for some length of extra time. For example, Royal Caribbean extended pay such employees for an extra month.

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.

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.

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.

• During the COVID-19 crisis, Levi distributed $32M to shareholders, while on the same day announcing the furlough of 4,000 employees.

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.

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.

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.