Dollar General workers rally in Goodlettsville demanding safer stores, better pay

Workers and allied groups gathered outside Dollar General’s headquarters in Goodlettsville, Tennessee on Wednesday to demand safer stores and better pay ahead of the retailer’s annual shareholder meeting. Organizers listed Step Up Louisiana, United for Respect, the Union of Southern Service Workers and a truncated listing, "Interfaith Cent," among participants; CNN described the crowd as "workers and their allies."

The rally amplified a shareholder push from Domini Impact Investments. "Domini Impact Investments, an activist investment firm, has also introduced a shareholder resolution calling for an independent auditor to evaluate Dollar General’s workplace safety policies. The auditor should examine staffing levels at stores and consult with workers to design solutions, Domini says." Dollar General’s board has urged shareholders to reject the proposal, calling it unnecessary, and the company told shareholders it "performs hundreds of safety checks and audits occur each day across its stores and engages employees on their feedback and concerns." At the same time, "Dollar General did not respond to request for comment from CNN on its worker safety demands."

The United States Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced a corporate-wide settlement with Dollar General on July 11, 2024. The OSHA news release carried the headline "Department of Labor announces settlement with Dollar General requiring corporate-wide safety investments in stores nationwide" and the subline "Agreement will facilitate safer environments for thousands of workers nationwide." The settlement, Release Number 24-1174-NAT, resolves contested and open federal OSHA inspections and lists alleged violations including "blocked emergency exits, blocked electrical panels, blocked fire extinguishers and unsafe storage."

OSHA’s release also described Dollar General as based in Goodlettsville and operating more than 19,000 stores nationwide. The release provided media contacts: Paloma Rentería, 202-579-1643, renteria.paloma.b@dol.gov; Patrick Malone, 202-997-3512, malone.patrick.m@dol.gov; Frances Alonzo, 202-693-5261, alonzo.frances@dol.gov.

Safety and staffing concerns were central to protesters’ complaints. "Workers and their allies ... say the company is failing to take basic precautions to prevent violence in its stores," CNN reported, and outside statistics have been cited in the debate: "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." In addition, "A CNN investigation in 2020 found that at least six store employees died during armed robberies from 2016 to 2020."

Pay and scale framed demands alongside safety. CNN reported the company’s workforce "has grown to about 160,000 people" and operates "roughly 19,000 stores nationwide, mainly in rural areas." Pay data cited by CNN notes "Around 92% of Dollar General’s hourly workers make less than $15 per hour, according to data from the Economic Policy Institute and the Shift Project." Protesters also pointed to safety problems at other discount chains; CNN noted that Dollar Tree, which owns Family Dollar, "has been cited for more than 300 federal and state OSHA workplace safety violations since 2017."

Organizers said the Goodlettsville rally was timed to influence conversations at the annual shareholder meeting; the OSHA settlement, the Domini resolution and the public safety statistics now form the central elements of those conversations between investors, the board and store employees.