Bill Gates on the opportunity for the oilpatch in the energy transition
Kyle Bakx 

© CERAWeek by IHS As countries look to decarbonize, Bill Gates sees the oilpatch playing a role in that energy transition.

The achievements of tech billionaire Bill Gates are well known, whether it's helping to build a tech giant in Microsoft or his efforts to improve global health through his foundation.

Still, the challenge of climate change can seem daunting, even to him.

Gates has spent the last several years examining just how tough the battle will be and admits, "this is going to be harder than any other domain that I've ever worked in."

Gates was the keynote speaker to kick off the CERAWeek by IHS conference, one of the world's largest annual events focused on energy.

The conference attracts leading figures from around the world in politics, business and energy, including several from Canada's oilpatch.

This year's event is focused on the energy transition as many countries and companies try to lower their emissions and meet their climate goals.

Achieving net zero emissions by 2050 will be difficult, but possible, says Gates.

"Things have never changed as fast as we're asking them to change," he said during the event.

"I mean, it is so radical. Only an entire generation committed to making this a political priority and at least all the rich countries for all of those 30 years, gives us a chance."

For instance, the electricity grid will need to be three times as large, he said, and remain stable even with intermittent sources of power like wind and solar.

Even though reducing emissions means using fewer fossil fuels, Gates sees an opportunity for the oilpatch.

"Green hydrogen may need to play a very gigantic role and a lot of the skill sets involved there are from the oil and gas industry," he said, pointing to how natural gas pipelines can be retrofitted to transport hydrogen around the continent.

Gates pointed to the need for carbon capture and sequestration projects, including companies like B.C.-based Carbon Engineering.

The drilling technology of the oilpatch may also be needed to store nuclear waste deep below the surface and refineries could help produce large quantities of biofuels.

Overall, the expertise of the sector will be required to develop the technologies that don't exist today, Gates said, but will be needed in the future.

"We need that ability to do complex engineering."

One of the energy companies to speak at the conference on Monday was BP, the U.K.-based oil firm with more than a 100-year history.

The company is trying to re-invent itself to eventually reach its net-zero goal. In the last year, it cut 10,000 positions and slashed the amount of executives by 50 per cent.

Rewiring the global energy system will cost a trillion dollars, according to BP chief executive Bernard Looney, but he too sees an opportunity for the oilpatch. For instance, BP is investing in growing its portfolio of renewable energy and providing electricity to the market.

"We love complexity, it sort of plays to our strengths, we actually enjoy that," he said.

Blast damages Dutch virus test centre; experts probe cause


THE HAGUE, Netherlands — A blast smashed five windows at a coronavirus testing centre in a small Dutch town early Wednesday and explosive experts were called in to investigate, police said. Nobody was hurt.

Police in the province of North Holland tweeted that “an explosive went off” near the testing centre in Bovenkarspel just before 7 a.m. Police cordoned off the area, which is 60 kilometres (40 miles) north of Amsterdam, and were investigating the cause of the blast.

Police spokesman Menno Hartenberg said it was unclear whether the testing centre was deliberately targeted or when the facility would be able to reopen.

He said it was clear that the explosive didn't "get there by accident. But we have no idea at the moment who exactly left it there and what the intention was.”

Police said a metal cylinder that had exploded was found outside the building.

The northern regions of North Holland province have been identified as a virus hotspot in recent weeks, with infection numbers higher than the national average.

In January, rioters torched a coronavirus test facility in the fishing village of Urk on the first night of a 9 p.m.-to-4:30 a.m. nationwide curfew imposed as part of the government’s latest coronavirus lockdown.

Attacks health workers and facilities around the world have increased amid the COVID-19 pandemic. A new report by the Geneva-based Insecurity Insight and the University of California, Berkeley’s Human Rights Center identified more than 1,100 threats or acts of violence against health care workers and facilities last year.

Some Dutch lockdown restrictions were relaxed Wednesday with hairdressers, masseurs and other “contact professions” allowed to reopen if they adhere to strict social distancing and hygiene measures.

Nonessential shops also were allowed to reopen in the Netherlands for the first time since mid-December, though only to very limited numbers of customers who make an appointment in advance.

___

MY MLA

Edmonton NDP MLA Janis Irwin’s office vandalized
SAME DAY AS CALGARY ANTI MASK RALLY
An Edmonton MLA spent Saturday morning cleaning up after her constituency office was vandalized.

© Provided by Global News The constituency office of Edmonton MLA Janis Irwin is vandalism, Saturday, Feb. 27, 2021.

The words "Antifa liar" were written across the front window of Janis Irwin's office.

The Highlands-Norwood MLA shared the image with a caption about the importance of denouncing racism and white supremacy.

Tweets later in the day showed residents at Irwin's office helping to clean up the graffiti and posting messages of support.

Irwin tweeted her appreciation for those who came out to show their support.

"This act of vandalism has left me sad and angry, but it needs to be said: this is just a fraction of what racialized folks and members of the LGBTQ2S+ community face every day," she wrote.

She also encouraged others to denounce hate and speak out against it.

"This isn’t about political disagreements; this is about hate. Over the last few months in Edmonton, six Black Muslim women have been assaulted for simply being who they are. And those are just the incidents we know about," she tweeted.

Premier Jason Kenney denounced the vandalism.

Jason Kenney

@jkenney

I condemn the vandalism of MLA Janis Irwin’s office today. Many other MLA offices have been vandalized in recent months. Shame on those responsible. If you disagree with an MLA, there are countless legitimate ways to register your views. Vandalism is not one of them.

11:45 AM · Feb 27, 2021

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Edmonton police chief condemns tiki torch carrying but says no evidence of hate crime at recent rally
Phil Heidenreich 

© Global News Edmonton police chief Dale McFee speaks to reporters on March 2, 2021.

Edmonton's police chief says he knows concerns continue to be raised about a rally against public health measures last month, during which some participants carried tiki torches, but his department has yet to unearth any evidence that a hate crime was committed at the event.

"Tiki torches... certainly, I denounce that," Dale McFee said at a news conference on Tuesday. "There's no place for that. But that said, there's a difference between the legal threshold in relation to what is a hate crime.

"We still have to have intent under the Criminal Code."

McFee's news conference was held to give reporters an opportunity to ask him anything, and a February rally against COVID-19 measures at the Alberta legislature dominated the question-and-answer session.

Some people are concerned that the protest, at which counter-protesters also showed up, may have been motivated by white supremacist ideology. Numerous protesters were seen carrying tiki torches through downtown Edmonton after the rally on Feb. 20.

READ MORE: March held to protest COVID-19 restrictions raises concerns about racism in Alberta

Ever since tiki torches were carried by white nationalists over a notoriously violent and deadly weekend in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017, the lights have been viewed by many as a symbol of racism when used at rallies.

"Let's be very clear, if we're going back to the old days that were in Virginia, we denounce that," McFee said Tuesday. "There's no place for that in any of our communities. But what we've also got to be careful of is that doesn't mean that there... (are) legal grounds... to lay charges. But that doesn't mean we're going... (to) stop investigating."

McFee said while he knows that the rally is viewed by many as a racist event, the Edmonton Police Service had members of its hate crimes unit there and did not see anything that would legally meet the definition of a hate crime.

"If you have that evidence, we would love to see it," he said. "Right now, we don't have that evidence."

READ MORE: Calgary city council denounces acts and symbols of hatred at weekend protest

The police chief said he saw interviews that some TV news outlets conducted with rally attendees in which some of the demonstrators indicated they "don't even know why they were carrying those torches."

"I think we've got to be careful," McFee said. "That doesn't mean the organizers didn't think differently.

"Because somebody says that's a white supremacist rally, you have to have evidence that it is."

In a statement to Global News this week, the organizer of the rally in question, Brad Carrigan, said the use of tiki torches has "little if anything to do with white supremacy or racism."

"This silly narrative started during the anti-Trump movement in the U.S.A. and has now bled into Canada as a way for politicians to control and spin a narrative, all to undermine the peaceful nature of the Walk for Freedom movement," he said.

A number of politicians, including Premier Jason Kenney, spoke out after the rally at the legislature last month.

"I understand that publicity for this event incorporated an image apparently taken from the notorious 2017 Charlottesville torch rally, which was an explicitly white supremacist event," Kenney said. "Prominent racists promoted Saturday's protest at the legislature, and individuals attended the event from known hate groups like the Soldiers of Odin and Urban Infidels.

"I condemn these voices of bigotry in the strongest possible terms."

At the time, Opposition Leader Rachel Notley said Kenney's statement didn't address all the racist elements she believes were at play in the rally and questioned why he didn't issue a statement immediately after the rally.

"Torch rallies have been associated with some of the most heinous displays of racism in history," she said. "Albertans deserve a premier who is unequivocal in condemning hate and racism."

Evan Balgord, the executive director of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, told Global News he believes "it's likely no chargeable hate crime originated from the rally itself."

"That's neither here nor there," he said in an email on Tuesday night. "That's a whole other, huge systemic issue and conversation.

"They don't have to charge attendees or organizers with a hate crime for this specific rally. They should have deterred it in the first place because of how inexorably tied together the COVID(-19) conspiracy and hate movement is in Canada."

Balgord noted at least one of the organizers used a photo of a "Nazi rally" to promote the event and even after the planned rally started getting media attention, "they chose to keep it and doubled down on using torches like Charlottesville."

"So that's no accident," he said.

"Every single hate group we track is involved in COVID(-19) conspiracy and anti-lockdown demonstrations... This is not hyperbole or an exaggeration. Every single one. And they're radicalizing other COVID(-19) conspiracists who may have started out with only the critical-thinking deficiencies that are the basic cost of entry. Now, far too many are getting inducted into the full-blown racism part. It's bad."

Balgord said he believes the police should be clearly calling such events hate rallies and very bluntly condemn them and threaten to ticket anyone who shows up to such a rally.

"Anything short of this, the conspiracists perceive as police support and it emboldens them," he said.

Irfan Chaudhry, the director of the office of human rights, diversity and equity at MacEwan University, tweeted that he found McFee's response "disheartening" and noted Edmonton has been the site of multiple allegedly hate-motivated attacks in recent weeks.

Watch below: (From Feb. 22, 2021) A rally held to protest COVID-19 restrictions is now raising concern over racism in Alberta. Many in attendance demonstrated carried tiki torches as they marched through the streets of downtown Edmonton. Lisa MacGregor looks at the message the march could send about Alberta.





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COVID-19 restriction rally raises concern about racism in Alberta
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McFee said someone at the rally threw punches at several officers, causing minor injuries. Police are still hoping to identify them and charge them. He said overall, however, the rally was fairly peaceful.

"With the number of protests we've had in the last year or more, for the most part, most of these were peaceful," McFee said. "That doesn't mean that there (aren't) some things we need to address."

McFee said just because his police force has yet to see evidence of a hate crime at the tiki torch rally, his police department's work on improving communication with various cultural and ethnic groups in the city is ongoing. He said any group can request a formal meeting with police to discuss concerns.

"We feel, more than ever, we've got to get out to the community. We've got to listen," he said, adding that it's important all Edmontonians feel able to report crimes or concerns "without fear" and have the belief that action will be taken by police when things are reported to them.

"A lot of these strides, a lot of these gains (have) to be made with the communities who, for the right reasons and because it's been for a number of years, have lost faith in the entire system -- and we're a part of that system," McFee said. "Now's the time... (We've got to) show them what we've changed as a result of those meetings

Alberta to continue iOAT program for existing clients under $6M grant

The iOAT program was first launched as a two-year, 

$14-million pilot by the NDP government in 2018. 

With the $6-million, two-year grant, iOAT clients are expected to receive the same level of care.

CBC/Radio-Canada

© Shutterstock Injectable opioid agonist therapy has been shown effective for many people suffering with severe opioid use disorder.

Alberta says it will continue to fund injectable opioid agonist treatment (iOAT) for current patients under a two-year grant.

It comes as the government faces a lawsuit brought by 11 patients who say Alberta's move to end funding for the life-saving program is a violation of their Charter rights.

Staff were told about the grant in a conference call on Tuesday morning, two AHS employees with knowledge of the iOAT program told CBC News.

CBC is not naming the two AHS employees because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the grant.

With the $6-million, two-year grant, iOAT clients are expected to receive the same level of care when they are transferred to opioid dependency programs, the employees said.

"The name iOAT is disappearing at the end of March, the program and services continue with no change," an AHS employee said.

There are 88 patients in the iOAT program, 44 in Edmonton and 44 in Calgary, according to AHS. But no new patients will be accepted, spokesperson Kerry Williamson confirmed.

Scott Monette, one of the plaintiffs, said he was relieved to learn about the funding decision.

"Today is a very good day and I feel like a lot has been accomplished," he said.

"It's been a nightmare not knowing whether or not it's going to close or open," he said. "We're talking about the difference between life and death here."

Injectable hydromorphone is considered a last-resort treatment option for people with severe opioid addictions when oral-based options offered at opioid dependency programs, such as methadone, prove ineffective.

Patients started to disengage from the program after the government announced last March it would end the program, according to an affidavit from Dr. Krishna Balachandra filed in the lawsuit. One patient died after being discharged, he said.

After the lawsuit was filed, government lawyers announced the province would continue to offer existing iOAT clients with hydromorphone. But despite the name, injectable treatment is just one aspect of iOAT — and questions remained about the continued availability of other wraparound services.

The judge found some primary care treatment would not be available to clients transferred to the opioid dependency program clinic, with referrals offered instead. Court documents show some clients feared it could limit care for lung and blood disorders and HIV, among other conditions.

The judge also said the level of psychosocial support, from trauma therapy to housing services, would be reduced at opioid dependency clinics

But in dismissing the plaintiffs' injunction application last Thursday, Court of Queen's Bench Justice Grant Dunlop said the impacts would be "minor".
No job losses, AHS says

Avnish Nanda, the clients' lawyer, filed an appeal yesterday. But he said Tuesday's announcement helped to end a year of government-generated uncertainty.

"If there's one thing that the government takes away from this, it's that the lives of people who use drugs, people who live with opioid use disorder matter," he said. "And that other Albertans will fight and organize to ensure that they receive the type of treatment, the type of care that they need to continue to live."

In a statement, the press secretary for Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Kassandra Kitz said the government "always said that these individuals in iOAT would not be cut off from programming."

"In fact, the Government committed to support these clients before the court case, during the court case, and after it was completed," she said.

The government revealed its plan to provide existing iOAT patients with hydromorphone through its lawyer after the lawsuit was filed — six months after it announced iOAT was set to close.

The opioid dependency program in Edmonton will move into the current iOAT clinic, AHS said. While iOAT services in Calgary will continue to be offered at the Sheldon Chumir Centre.

Williamson, AHS spokesperson, said no clients have been transferred yet, as timing and planning is underway. There will be no job losses due to the transition.

The iOAT program was first launched as a two-year, $14-million pilot by the NDP government in 2018. The Alberta government announced last March it would extend funding for a year to provide time for patients to be transferred into other programs.

Last year marked the most deadly year for overdoses in Alberta on record, with data up to the end of November showing 997 people had died.

Rio Tinto chairman leaving over destruction of sacred sites

CANBERRA, Australia — Rio Tinto chairman Simon Thompson said Wednesday he was accountable for the mining giant destroying sacred Indigenous sites in Australia to access iron ore and he will not seek reelection as a board director next year

.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Thompson’s announcement came after former chief executive Jean-Sebastien Jacques announced his resignation last September over the destruction in May of two rock shelters in Juukan George in Western Australia state that had been inhabited for 46,000 years.

The company’s successes in 2020 were “overshadowed by the destruction of the Juukan Gorge shelters ... and, as chairman, I am ultimately accountable for the failings that led to this tragic event,” Thompson said in a statement.

“The tragic events at Juukan Gorge are a source of personal sadness and deep regret, as well as being a clear breach of our values as a company,” he added.

Jamie Lowe, chief executive of the National Native Title Council, which represents Australia’s traditional owners of the land, described Thompson's departure as a necessary step that Indigenous people had been demanding since the rock shelters were blasted.

“We think the cultural shift within Rio Tinto needed to happen immediately and it’s too bad its taken some eight months to be actually able to see that come to fruition,” Lowe said.

Jacques was replaced as chief executive in January by Jakob Stausholm.

Executives Chris Salisbury and Simone Niven also left the company last year due to shareholder anger at the destruction that outraged traditional owners of the gorge, the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura people.

Rio Tinto announced on Wednesday that director Michael L’Estrange would retire from the board at the conclusion of the April annual general meetings in Britain and Australia.

L’Estrange led a widely criticized internal review of how the rock shelters came to be blasted against traditional owners’ wishes.

The review concluded in August that there was “no single root cause or error that directly resulted in the destruction of the rock shelters.”

But internal documents revealed in September that Rio Tinto had engaged a law firm in case the traditional owners applied for a court injunction to save the rock shelters.

The Western Australian government has promised to update Indigenous heritage laws that allowed Rio Tinto to legally destroy the sacred sites.

Rod McGuirk, The Associated Press

US Supreme Court hints it may take case of state employees fired for military deployment



Tara Copp
Mon, March 1, 2021

The U.S. Supreme Court has asked the U.S. solicitor general to weigh in on the case of a Texas state trooper who was fired from his job after he came home from a military deployment in Iraq too ill to patrol, in a lawsuit that could determine whether federal protections for service members apply to state employees.

The orders to the solicitor general, which posted on the Supreme Court’s website on Monday morning, “means they [justices] believe the case has national importance that affects the interest of the United States,” said Andrew Tutt, an attorney with Arnold & Porter, which was one of the firms petitioning the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case.

The case of LeRoy Torres v. The Texas Department of Public Safety involves a 14-year Texas state trooper who deployed to Balad, Iraq, in 2007 as an Army reservist. Torres says he spent a year there inhaling toxic air from the base’s massive open-air trash burning pits.


He was among more than 200,000 other service members who served near burn pits during war operations in the Middle East and have reported respiratory illnesses, cancers and other chronic illnesses. About 800,000 state employees across the United States are current or former members of the reserves or National Guard.

The court’s action means that it may be a few months before it is known whether the Supreme Court will hear the case, Tutt said. The solicitor general will now work with attorneys for Torres and the Texas attorney general’s office to gather information on the case, and then provide its review to the Supreme Court, which often relies on that counsel to decide whether the case should be heard, Tutt said.

When Torres returned home from Iraq, his respiratory condition had prevented him from serving on the road as a state trooper, the Texas attorney general’s office had said in its filing to the Supreme Court. Torres now requires supplemental oxygen and said he requested, but was not provided, an alternative desk job, and was forced to resign in 2012.

The Texas attorney general’s office had argued in its court filings that the state did provide Torres an alternate administrative position but that Torres was ultimately placed on leave because of missed work days.

“I am genuinely thankful to God for the [Supreme Court’s] decision in moving onward with the case,” LeRoy Torres emailed McClatchy in a statement.

Torres had sued the state under the 1994 Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) which prohibits federal and private sector employers from retaliating against or firing National Guard members and reservists who take leave from their jobs due to military duty.

His claim was quickly denied by a lower court, which said the state’s Department of Public Safety cannot be sued by Torres or any other state employee under Texas’ claim of sovereign immunity.

Sovereign immunity invokes a provision under the Constitution that empowers states to only face state or federal lawsuits in their courts if they consent to it.

A handful of states, such as South Carolina and Tennessee, extend USERRA protections to service members in state government jobs.

Many states do not have a set policy, but an increasing number of state governments are watching lawsuits in Texas, Florida and Virginia that claim they have sovereign immunity, said Brian Lawler, an attorney with the Pilot Law Corp., one of the firms petitioning the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of Torres.

In a Florida lawsuit, U.S. Navy reservist James Hightower alleged he faced a hostile work environment and was denied a promotion because of multiple deployments.

A Florida court initially ruled sovereign immunity shielded Florida from the USERRA lawsuit that Hightower filed. Hightower’s attorneys are asking the Florida court to consider if the lawsuit raises the larger legal question of states rights versus federal powers on whether Florida can apply sovereign immunity to USERRA.

“I am hopeful this job accommodation case will assist hundreds of other Citizen-Warriors who have also faced job loss due to returning from war with a deployment-related injury or illness,” Torres said.

UK

Steakhouse chain asked its furloughed staff to loan the company part of their wages, union claims

Dominic Penna
Mon, March 1, 2021, 

Bone-in ribeye Tomahawk steak with long bone on grey 

background viewed from above - istetiana/Moment RF

A steakhouse chain asked furloughed members of staff to loan the company part of their wages or potentially lose their jobs, a union has alleged.

Tomahawk Steakhouse asked employees who have been furloughed to contribute 10 per cent of their wages in order to cover their pension and National Insurance payments, according to the GMB Union.

Tomahawk, which operates 12 restaurants across the UK, said that its priority was to protect employees and the business after a “challenging year”.


The chain told furlough staff that it had a “short-term cash flow issue and it requires your help and support”, according to a letter seen by the BBC.

“The only viable alternative is to ask for your agreement to a loan arrangement,” the company said.

In the letter, Tomahawk said that the loans would have to remain in place for three to four months due to ongoing restrictions on the hospitality trade.

It went on to suggest that the loans, amounting to 10 per cent of pay, would be repaid “once the lockdown is eased sufficiently” for the company to operate.

Rachael Maskell, the Labour MP for York, described the company’s alleged behaviour as “disgraceful” and said that “if it isn’t illegal, it certainly is immoral”.

The GMB union claimed that the loan scheme made use of a legal loophole in the furlough system, and called for the rules to be changed so that other companies could not act in the same manner.

Tomahawk has denied allegations from anonymous employees that staff were threatened with unemployment if they did not agree to the terms of the agreement.

A spokesperson said: “At no point has Tomahawk Steakhouse suggested that members of staff would be sacked if they did not sign a loan agreement.

“Every single employee chose to sign up to this agreement.”

Scientists are voicing support for a former Trader Joe's employee who says he was fired for asking for better COVID-19 protections


Annabelle Williams
Mon, March 1, 2021, 


Getty/Alexi Rosenfeld


A former Trader Joe's employee said he was fired after asking for better COVID-19 protections.


Scientists have voiced their support for the employee's "science-based request."


Trader Joe's says the worker was fired because of "the disrespect he showed toward our customers."


Scientist have spoken out in defense of former Trader Joe's employee Ben Bonnema, who alleged that he was fired for writing a letter to the grocery store's management asking for more stringent COVID-19 protections.

Bonnema, who was employed at a Trader Joe's location in New York City, posted on Twitter that he sent a letter to the company's CEO, Dan Bane, asking that the company improve air filtration and take other precautions to protect employees from the coronavirus.

He also posted an image of what he described as a letter he received terminating him from the company. The paperwork referenced the letter and said that his suggestions were not in line with the "core Values" of the company.


In his letter to Bane, Bonnema cited another missive sent by scientists to the Biden administration asking for better ventilation standards for workplaces.

Kimberly Prather, a professor at UC San Diego, posted on Twitter that she was one of the writers of the Biden letter. She also spoke out in support of Bonnema.

"We wrote this letter to protect people like Ben," Prather wrote. "His letter is an excellent science-based request."

Another writer of the Biden letter and former head of OSHA David Michaels tweeted "I'm one of the scientists who wrote the letter calling for better protection for workers exposed to aerosol particles. Retaliation for raising safety concerns is against the law."

In addition to calling for inspections, some customers have said that they will boycott shopping at the grocery chain, Insider reported.

Bonnema wrote in a reply to his original Tweet: "another reason for @TraderJoesUnion".

As The Guardian reported, the grocery store chain has suppressed unionizing efforts during the pandemic. The Guardian reported that, in March of 2020, the CEO sent a letter to staff saying that unionization efforts were "a distraction."

Trader Joe's said in a statement that Bonnema was terminated because of "the disrespect he showed toward our customers." A representative added that "we have never, and would never, terminate a Crew Member's employment for raising safety concerns."

Read the original article on Business Insider

Customers say they're boycotting Trader Joe's after the chain fired an employee who asked the CEO to enhance COVID-19 protections

Shoshy Ciment

Sun, February 28, 2021, 

People are calling for a boycott of Trader Joe's after an employee said he was fired.

Ben Bonnema said he had asked the company to do more to protect its workers from COVID-19.

Bonnema shared his termination letter on Twitter, and it went viral.

Trader Joe's is facing calls for a boycott after firing an employee in New York.

Ben Bonnema said on Twitter on Friday that he was fired from his job at the Trader Joe's on the Upper West Side after he asked the company to better protect its workers against the coronavirus.

Bonnema shared the letter he had sent to the grocery chain's CEO in which he requested five COVID-19-related changes, including stricter mask requirements, enhanced store filtration, and a "three strike policy" for dealing with uncooperative shoppers.

"We put our lives on the line everyday by showing up to work," he wrote. "Please, show up for us by adopting these policies."

Bonnema said he received a termination letter shortly after sending his requests. The letter he posted said he did not share the grocery chain's "core Values."

—Ben Bonnema (@BenBonnema) February 26, 2021

"In a recent email, you suggest adopting a '3 strike' policy against customers and a policy enforcing the same accommodation for every customer with a medical condition that precludes them from wearing a mask," the termination letter read. "These suggestions are not in line with our core Values. In addition, you state that Trader Joe's is not 'showing up for us' without adopting your policies. It is clear that you do not understand our Values. As a result, we are no longer comfortable having you work for Trader Joe's."

Bonnema's tweet spurred other Twitter users to call for a boycott of the grocery chain, which has over 500 locations across the US.

—Damian Keenan (@NorthWestEU) February 28, 2021

—dond (@donnyd26) February 27, 2021

—Michelle Jones (@Michell49685689) February 27, 2021

—Don Milton (@Don_Milton) February 27, 2021

—Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) February 28, 2021

—Rob Gill (@vote4robgill) February 27, 2021

A Twitter account associated with a workers union for the grocery chain expressed support for Bonnema.

—Crew for a Trader Joe’s Union ✊🌺 (@TraderJoesUnion) February 27, 2021

The company did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment about the calls for a boycott.

A representative for Trader Joe's told Insider in a statement on Saturday that the store leadership's decision to terminate Bonnema stemmed from the "disrespect he showed toward our customers."

"We have never, and would never, terminate a Crew Member's employment for raising safety concerns," the representative said.

"Nothing is more important at Trader Joe's than the safety of our Crew Members and customers," the representative added. "We encourage all Crew Members to take an active role in store safety, and share their suggestions with leadership. During his short tenure with Trader Joe's, this Crew Member's suggestions were listened to, and appropriately addressed."