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Video production by Nigell Moses

Days after four people were shot at a Dollar Tree in Gentilly, dollar store workers across Louisiana rallied in New Orleans on Saturday (Dec. 10) to demand higher wages and safe workplaces. 

Worker leaders with the grassroots group Step Up Louisiana spoke with Verite News about the everyday risks of the job — and the changes they want their employers to make.

Employees at the discount stores often face threats to personal safety as the stores, which have thrived in poor communities nationwide, have become magnets for crime and violence. And they often make only a few dollars more than minimum wage, as one 2020 report on pay data found.

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New Orleans native Nigell Moses graduated summa cum laude from Xavier University of Louisiana with a bachelor’s degree in Mass Communication. She is a published contributing writer, with stories in The...

Michelle Liu worked previously for The Associated Press in South Carolina and was an inaugural corps member with the Report for America initiative. She also covered statewide criminal justice issues for...