49 people have been killed at Dollar General stores since 2014. Workers are protesting for safer conditions



Dollar General is the fastest-growing retailer in America, opening about 1,000 stores a year. But following repeated violent incidents and federal workplace safety violations at stores, some Dollar General workers and labor advocates are calling for stronger safety and health protections.

Workers and their allies are rallying Wednesday outside Dollar General’s headquarters in Goodlettsville, Tennessee, ahead of the company’s annual shareholder meeting to protest conditions. They say the company is failing to take basic precautions to prevent violence in its stores.

Since 2014, there have been 49 people killed and 172 people injured at Dollar General stores, according to data from non-profit group Gun Violence Archive. A CNN investigation in 2020 found that at least six store employees died during armed robberies from 2016 to 2020.


Dollar General’s position in poor communities, especially in the South where gun laws and worker protections are lax, contribute to this violent trend, former company executives, store employees, law enforcement officials and retail security experts have previously told CNN.
Violence is not unique to Dollar General. Retail stores are the second most common location for mass shootings (after the workplace), according to the Violence Project, non-profit group. But workers say the company should be doing more to protect their safety and that businesses practices such as understaffed stores are making them unsafe.


Dollar Tree is facing a shareholder resolution around worker pay at its annual meeting next month. Dollar Tree employs more than 200,000 people. It reports median worker pay as $13,490, below the federal poverty line.

The proposal, brought by activist investment firm United Church Funds, called on the company to publish a report on whether Dollar Tree has compensation and workforce practices that prioritize the company’s bottom line over the economic and social costs of income inequality.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/31/busin...ety/index.html