I have been asked by an employee in the employ of Spectrum/Charter, a giant cable and internet company, headquartered in New York City, to help spread the word about their reckless behavior during the Covid-19 pandemic. There is fear of speaking out because people who have done so have been fired.
“I do not understand why we are still coming into the office as the COVID-19 pandemic surges around us,” he wrote.
“The CDC guidelines are clear. The CDPHE guidelines are clear. The WHO guidelines are clear. The science of social distancing is real. We have the complete ability to do our jobs entirely from home,” he wrote, reeling off the advice from several state and federal government departments and international health organizations. “Coming into the office now is pointlessly reckless. It’s also socially irresponsible. Charter, like the rest of us, should do what is necessary to help reduce the spread of coronavirus. Social distancing has a real slowing effect on the virus — that means lives can be saved.
“A hazard condition isn’t acceptable for the infrastructure beyond the short-term. Why is it acceptable for our health?”
A few hours later he was terminated.
There is also concern about being left in the dark about who they have been exposed to.
The employees said two or three staff had been tested for coronavirus, according to internal emails from Charter’s human resources, but that their test results had not been disclosed, compounding their fears about having to continue to go into the office.
It is understandable that critical, emphasize critical, positions must be maintained but the corporate response seems typical of what we are witnessing across the board. Profits over people.
In an all-staff email sent Saturday, Charter’s chief executive Tom Rutledge doubled down on the policy.
“You may have heard that some companies are instituting broad remote working policies for some of their employees. While we are preparing for that possibility by geography, Charter is not doing the same today,”
“Stay home if you are sick, or caring for someone who is sick, but continue to report to your usual work location if you are not,”
Since Coronavirus has been spreading, and thanks this administration’s failed testing policies, impossible to know who is a carrier. It seems that the wise thing to do is to minimize the risk to employees.
When the virus burns out I hope we will remember to hold accountable and punish every single employer who fails to safeguard their employees, their customers, and the broader public they come into contact with in their daily lives. This is disturbing, shameful, and disgusting. Profits over people.
Excerpts taken from an article published in TechCrunch.com forwarded to me by the Spectrum/Charter employee
techcrunch.com/...