WOODBURY, Minn. -- Approximately 50 SuperAmerica convenience-store workers and supporters marched on a gas station in St. Paul, Minn., on Nov. 17, and staged a sit-in at the company’s corporate headquarters in Woodbury, Minn., to demand better standards on the job.
Working America and the Greater Minneapolis Worker Center (GMWC) sponsored the “day of action” to speak out about the problems that they claim are affecting hourly workers at the chain, including low pay, erratic schedules and favoritism.
During the event, a group of workers delivered the group’s official letter to the on-duty manager, requesting a meeting with SuperAmerica President Jack Helmick. The letter outlined the group’s list of demands to improve workplace conditions for the chain’s hourly workers, including:
- Instituting two weeks’ notice of work schedules for all employees.
- Establishing a health and safety committee tasked with improving workplace safety and wellness standards at the chain’s locations.
- Instituting a company-wide equity policy that ensures women and people of color receive pay and opportunities for advancement equal to that of their counterparts.
The group left without being granted a meeting with Helmick, said a report by The Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal.
“The community has spoken. After today’s action, SuperAmerica can’t continue to ignore the requests of working families in the Twin Cities,” said Working America-Minnesota program director David Wakely. “Working families are tired of working hard in jobs that make it impossible to support their families and advance in the workplace."
According to the report, SuperAmerica increased starting pay to $9.50 per hour ahead of a statewide minimum wage increase to the same amount in August 2016. SuperAmerica told employees that they will not receive merit increases next year, Minnesota AFL-CIO communications director Chris Shieldssaid.
Woodbury, Minn.-based SuperAmerica and its parent company, Northern TierEnergy, did not respond to requests by the newspaper for more information.
Tempe, Ariz.-based Northern Tier Energy is an independent downstream energy company with refining, retail and logistics operations that serves the PADD II region of the United States. It operates a refinery in St. Paul Park, Minn. And it operates approximately 165 convenience stores and supports approximately 99 franchised convenience stores, primarily in Minnesota and Wisconsin, under the SuperAmerica trademark, and a bakery and commissary under the SuperMom's brand.
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