Honeywell closed their factory in Virginia because of the coronavirus — but refused to pay workers for the two weeks it took them to get fully staffed again.

On Saturday, April 18, the Honeywell International manufacturing facility in Colonial Heights shut down after several confirmed COVID-19 cases. There are now seven workers with confirmed cases. With the facility shut down, Honeywell has chosen to provide hourly union workers with just 2-3 days pay total, regardless of how long the closure lasts, and is currently encouraging employees to file for unemployment — instead of paying these workers for the duration of the shutdown.

Honeywell claimed it was under too much financial duress to protect their employees from the fallout of the crisis. We know this is false. Honeywell’s revenue exceeded $41 billion in 2018 in revenue alone. It would cost them less than $300,000 to pay workers for the two weeks it took to get fully staffed again. The company also failed to provide personal protective equipment to the workers in a timely fashion, which likely exacerbated the spread of the virus in the Colonial Heights facility.

Without their workers, these Honeywell facilities would not be able to produce the military equipment and consumer goods that created the company’s wealth. 

Send a message to Honeywell corporate executives: Do the right thing and pay your workers for the duration of their factory closures.