Senator Elizabeth Warren is in command of Washington lawmakers who demand that the nation’s top grocery retailers, including Stop & Shop, Trader Joe’s, Wegmans, and Whole Foods, reinstate risk-paying for hourly workers as the Companies have withdrawn compensation even when Coronavirus cases have skyrocketed in recent weeks.
“Frontline workers are taking all the risk,” Warren said Friday in a video news conference with Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio and the International Union of Food and Commercial Workers, who together are calling on companies to extend the salary increases they distributed to employees at the start of the pandemic and to establish and enforce workplace safety protections.
“They are the ones who are taking on the emotional turmoil,” Warren added. “They didn’t sign up for a job that meant putting their lives at risk every day, but they’re doing it, and they should be getting a hefty risk pay, or at least an acknowledgment of that added risk.”
Warren and Brown, backed by 11 other senators, have sent letters to CEOs of the 15 major supermarket chains, including Stop & Shop’s parent company Ahold Delhaize, urging them to recover wages as COVID-19 continues to appear. . and flourish in some areas, across the country.
According to the UFCW, 93 supermarket workers have died from the coronavirus, while 12,045 have been infected or exposed to the disease.
“It doesn’t make sense that in March and April, the last time we saw cases exploding, companies were willing to pay the risk payment,” said UFCW President Marc Perrone. “But now they act as if these workers don’t need to be paid, despite the obvious risks they face every day.”
A recent national survey of 4,000 supermarket workers by the union revealed the greatest concern about bringing the disease into their homes and that their employers are not enforcing face mask regulations in stores.
According to the UFCW, nearly one in two workers says they are more concerned about the virus now than they were two weeks ago.
“UFCW members risk their lives every day so that Americans can keep food on the table. They are keeping our society going, “Brown told reporters.” Corporations claim to understand that, claim to acknowledge that. They run ads to feel good thanking essential workers. They claim that these workers are at the heart of their companies. But thank you. it’s not enough. Workers don’t need a public relations campaign. They need a fair wage. They need protections on the job. “
Warren, in Friday’s call, specifically targeted Quincy-based Stop & Shop, which ended its 10 percent risk pay program for front-line workers on July 4.
The chain’s Dutch parent company, in May, reported first-quarter operating income of approximately $ 1.1 billion, a 40 percent increase compared to the same quarter last year. Sales reached approximately $ 20.7 billion, an increase of 12.7 percent.
US store sales, excluding gasoline, increased by 13.8 percent “with all brands generating comparable double-digit sales growth due in large part to the COVID-19 outbreak,” the company said.
“Profits have gone up. They’re not reducing risk pay because the business is down, (and) it’s the only way to keep stores open, “Warren said.” The company has just decided that it doesn’t want to recognize and compensate the workers who are essential to its business. That’s just wrong. “
In the senators’ letter to Ahold Delhaize USA CEO Kevin Holt, lawmakers said they appreciate that the company provided salary increases and bonuses to employees during the first months of the health crisis. But unlike temporary increases, the pandemic still remains, they wrote.
While Massachusetts is among a handful of states showing positive trends in fighting coronavirus, the threat of the virus has almost left the Bay State, authorities said. Even though hospitalization rates have fallen from the peak of spring, new cases and related deaths continue to be reported daily, bringing the state’s totals down to 112,879 and 8,402, respectively, through Thursday.
Grocery store employees are considered essential workers in Massachusetts, with approximately 25,000 people employed on the front line, including 15,000 UFCW members who are employees of Stop & Shop, lawmakers say.
Several workers at the grocery store in the Commonwealth have died from COVID-19.
Separately, the 11 members of the Commonwealth Congressional delegation, led by Warren, also signed a letter to Stop & Shop President Gordon Reid on Wednesday, urging him to reinstate the wage increase.
“Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, grocery store workers have played a critical role in keeping the country fed, but doing so has put them at greater risk of exposure to COVID-19,” the letter says. “As the pandemic continues to affect communities, it is imperative that essential workers have the rights, protections and benefits they need and deserve to remain safe and adequately compensated for the risks they take to serve their business and their communities.
“The additional stress, fear and risk that workers face on their health and safety has not decreased, and we believe they should continue to be compensated for that additional danger,” the letter added.
A Stop & Shop spokesperson told Boston.com in an email on Friday that the “Thank You Pay Program” was launched in association with UFCW in March. The company announced on May 28 that it will extend the initiative until July 4.
“We deeply appreciate the extraordinary efforts of our associates and are pleased to offer and extend our appreciation pay program for longer than almost any other food retailer,” Stop & Shop said in a statement. “The purpose of this temporary extra payment was to recognize our associates for their hard work during an unprecedented increase in customer demand and traffic. As states continue to reopen, we are returning to pre-COVID traffic and demand levels. “
The company said it will continue to take steps to keep employees and customers safe, adding that a flexible leave policy and additional paid sick leave are still available to workers.
Stop & Shop is far from the only retailer to have reduced compensation. Kroger, Albertsons and Amazon have ended hourly wages, although some award bonuses to their employees, The New York Times Recently reported.
Many companies, such as Stop & Shop, have said the boost was meant to serve employees when sales increased earlier this year, when the public began to shrink at the start of the public health crisis, trends that have since been concluded. Times reports.
Additionally, some companies are incurring new expenses to meet operating needs during a pandemic. Walgreens, for example, said Thursday that its frequent store cleaning regimen and labor costs added up to an overall loss during the quarter, according to the newspaper.
Full-time workers at Walgreens received a $ 300 bonus in April, but no plans for any other bonuses have been announced and the company is now working to cut expenses. Times reports.
Meanwhile, Whole Foods owner Amazon is handing out $ 500 bonuses instead of his $ 2-an-hour increase that store and warehouse employees had been receiving.
But lawmakers say companies should pay the risk for the duration of the public health emergency.
Coronavirus-related deaths are rising again at a remarkable rate across the country, and the number of new cases soared in late June more than during the peak of spring, according to the Times.
“The numbers are increasing every day,” said Brown. “If workers deserved risk pay in April, as many of them got from their employers, they certainly deserve it even more now.”
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