Hot Topic employees address walkout

(ABC 6 News) – The picture of the sign put up by employees has been posted all over social media.

It has gotten over 60,000 votes on Reddit from all over the world.

ABC 6 News spoke with one former employee and one current employee of Hot Topic here in Rochester about it.

"We’re getting just an outpour, an insane outpour of international support. It’s all across the world basically it’s insane. And we really appreciate it, it means the absolute world to us, especially those of us who had especially hard times," Sarah Sailors and Elle Driskell Felts said.

Sailors is a current employee and Driskell Felts quit before this last walkout. They said their coworkers organized this walkout and issued this statement to ABC 6 News:

"Hot Topic on the outside looks like a progressive and well-put-together career for employees like us. The pandemic opened our eyes to how clearly horrible the conditions were for our staff… For those struggling to get food on the table and working yourself to the bone to be able to have a home to come back to, now is our chance to fight for the respect and the right to a living wage."

ABC 6 News has reached out to Hot Topic’s corporate office and the Apache Mall and has not heard back.