Guitar Center reopens its Kansas facility
If you were worried that Guitar Center was going down, you can allay your fears. The company has assured that it will implement stricter rules to protect its workers, and thus managed to persuade city officials to regard it as an ‘essential’ business during the coronavirus pandemic.
Essential Business
Earlier this month, Guitar Center was forced to shut down its Kansas City warehouse after the city’s health department stated that the retailer was in violation of the mayor’s “stay-at-home” order. Looks like the city officials have had a change of heart and allowed the facility to reopen.
New measures
Guitar Center was able to resume operations after company representatives were able to convince the mayor’s office that it would employ stricter measures during the ‘stay-at-home’ order, in compliance with the city’s Health Department’s guidelines. These changes will include closing the lobby to walk-in customers, ending in-person sales, following CDC guidelines for sanitation and employee protection, and reorganizing schedules so as to minimize the number of employees in the building at any given time.
According to KUCR 89.3, Kansas City Health Department’s Environmental Health Services division manager Naser Jouhari said that “The original complaints filed against this business were from employees that felt they were not being protected and were being forced to come to work. These new policy changes will accommodate employee concerns and give them the opportunity to decide to report to work.”
Guitar Center also told city officials that employees who would rather stay at home during this time will not be penalised and could take advantage of extended pay through its furlough program. How long this extended pay would last, however, is unclear.
The company’s Kansas distribution center is not to be confused with Guitar Center retail stores, which are closed.
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2 responses to “Guitar Center reopens its Kansas facility”
I wonder how big a donation/bribe GC had to give to the Kansas City politicians/crooks. Way things usually work in KC.
Many of the main stores are/have been open for employees to send out shipping. They are also opening for online order pick ups. They’re working mass hours a day to make up for Kansas having been down.
Employees have walked out of stores because they felt unsafe (because they didn’t close until it was mandatory). They also have been working more hours now than before (think salary, 6 days a week and 60 vs 40 hours). And all bonuses aren’t happening, so roughly a third of paychecks are gone.
The “choice” given was either go back to work or be furloughed with no benefits.
Some were even told to buy equipment to be able to make calls all day trying to get customers to sign up for online lessons.
The whole “work to keep your company a float” card is being pulled, with little regard for the health of employees. Both with covid health and their actual physical and mental health.
Employees are now to be expected to work 10-7pm for the store pick up.. with no way out for family time or previous engagements. Burn out is visible in these people.
Calls are made weekly to see if employees furloughed want to use their sick/ vacation time pay.
It’s all screaming of a company that cares more about its bottom line than about the people who make it work. And who of those employees will even be left when this is over.. after all, who wants to work for a company who treats you as an expendable
Written by someone close to an employee who’d rather remain anonymous as to not get fired. But who’s also sick of seeing this company get off looking like they’re not burning these people out and treating them like work horses while lowering compensation.