Whole Foods employee's demand for better treatment in 'sick-out'

KEZI 9 News is unable to confirm if any employees called out sick today at the Eugene location.

News.

Whole food's employees nationwide are staging a "sick out" to protest their parent company-- amazon's - coronavirus policy.

Kezi nine news reporter connor mccarthy is live outside the whole foods in eugene -- with what this could mean for grocery shoppers.

Matt and renee-- the walkout was organized on social media and was supposed to happen today.

But there are still customers going in and out of the store here in downtown... so from what i can see from the outside..

It's business as usual.

So we don't know how many employees stayed home today... but we do know at least some of them are growing frustrated about how the company is treating them.

Employees want sick pay for workers who choose to self- isolate instead of coming to work.

They're also demanding immediate shutdown of any store across the country where an employee has tested positve.

A social media post promoting the walk-out says -- quote -- "covid-19 is a very real threat to the safety of our workforce and our customers.

We cannot wait for politicians, institutions, or our own management to step in to protect us."

We have 18 cases of covid 19 in lane county... but as far as we know... none of the patients worked here.

Employees in california, new york city, chicago, and louisiana have tested positive.

I did reach out to whole foods but i have not heard back at this time.

Reporting live in eugene connor mccarthy kezi nine