A5
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2019
Walmart getting rid of greeters; disabled workers worried
By MICHAEL
RUBINKAM
Associated Press
As Walmart moves to
phase out its familiar blue-
vested “greeters” at some
1,000 stores nationwide, dis-
abled workers who fi ll many
of those jobs say they’re
being ill-treated by a chain
that styles itself as communi-
ty-minded and inclusive.
Walmart told greeters
around the country last week
that their positions would
be eliminated on April 26 in
favor of an expanded, more
physically demanding “cus-
tomer host” role. To qual-
ify, they will need to be able
to lift 25-pound packages,
climb ladders and stand for
long periods.
That came as a heavy
blow to greeters with cere-
bral palsy, spina bifi da and
other physical disabilities.
For them, a job at Walmart
has provided needed income,
served as a source of pride
and offered a connection
to the community. Now
Walmart, America’s largest
private employer, is facing a
backlash as customers rally
around some of the chain’s
most visible and beloved
employees.
Walmart says it is striving
to place greeters in other jobs
at the company, but workers
with disabilities are worried.
Donny Fagnano, 56, who
has worked at Walmart for
more than 21 years, said he
cried when a manager at the
store in Lewisburg, Penn-
sylvania, called him into the
offi ce last week and told him
his job was going away.
“I like working,” he said.
“It’s better than sitting at
home.”
Fagnano, who has spina
bifi da, said he was offered a
severance package. He hopes
to stay on at Walmart and
clean bathrooms instead.
Theresa Sours, an 81-year-
old greeter with heart failure,
said she desperately needs
her Walmart job to help pay
for her medicine and mort-
gage. Sours, of Stuart, Flor-
ida, who’s worked for the
chain for more than 18 years,
said her manager told her
they had no other openings
suited to her ability.
“I never thought they
would do this. I feel like
I’m thrown to the wolves,”
Sours said. Her sister-in-law,
Cecilia Appleby, was even
more blunt: “They’ve done
her wrong. They’ve done her
absolutely wrong. They just
Contract:
Coalition
plans to put
contract
to operate
center up for
bid this year
Continued from Page A1
Sarah Nebeker, the com-
mission’s
chairwoman,
said afterward, adding that
the commission is being
responsible.
County staff was also
careful not to link the bid-
ding with any concerns
about Clatsop Behavioral
Healthcare’s performance.
“This isn’t driven by
any particular thing other
than it’s good due diligence
on our part,” said Michael
McNickle, the county’s pub-
lic health director.
County staff did include
requirements for bidders that
refl ect past frustration over a
lack of transparency at Clat-
sop Behavioral Healthcare.
Providers must agree
to make quarterly reports
before the Board of Com-
missioners, and a county rep-
resentative must be allowed
to attend regular meetings
of a provider’s governing
board.
The coalition behind the
crisis respite center, which
includes the county, also
plans to put the contract to
operate the respite center up
for bid this year.
don’t like the handicapped.”
Walmart greeters have
been around for decades,
allowing the retail giant to
put a friendly face at the
front of its stores. Then, in
2016, Walmart began replac-
ing greeters with hosts, with
responsibilities that include
not only welcoming cus-
tomers but helping with
returns, checking receipts to
deter shoplifters and keeping
the front of the store clean.
Walmart and other chains
have been redefi ning roles at
stores as they compete with
Amazon.
The effect of the greeter
phase-out on disabled and
elderly employees — who
have traditionally gravitated
toward the role as one they
Rachel Wasser
Greeter John Combs works at Walmart in Vancouver, Wash.
were well-suited to doing
— largely escaped public
notice until last week, when
Walmart launched a second
round of cuts.
As word spread, fi rst on
social media and then in local
and national news outlets,
outraged customers began
calling Walmart to complain.
Tens of thousands of people
signed petitions. Facebook
groups sprang up with names
like “Team Adam” and “Save
Lesley.” A second-grade
class in California wrote let-
ters to Walmart’s CEO on
behalf of Adam Catlin, a dis-
abled greeter in Pennsylvania
whose mother had written an
impassioned Facebook post
about his plight. Walmart
said it has offered another job
to Catlin.
In Galena, Illinois, hun-
dreds of customers plan
to attend an “appreciation
parade” for Ashley Powell
on her last day of work as a
greeter.
“I love it, and I think I’ve
touched a lot of people,” said
Powell, 34, who has an intel-
lectual disability. She once
rescued a 3-year-old boy
who’d wandered into the
parking lot and led him back
to his parents at checkout.
In Vancouver, Washing-
ton, John Combs, 42, who
has cerebral palsy, was dev-
astated and then angered by
his impending job loss. It had
taken his family fi ve years to
fi nd him a job he could do,
and he loved the work, com-
ing up with nicknames for
all his co-workers.
“What am I going to do,
just sit here on my butt all
day in this house? That’s all
I’m going to do?” Combs
asked his sister and guard-
ian, Rachel Wasser. “I do
my job. I didn’t do anything
wrong.”
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