Kroger Mandates Masks — UFCW 21 Members Demand Reinstatement of Hazard Pay
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UFCW 21 members at Kroger stores, including the Auburn Fred Meyer workers pictured above, have been protesting the company’s pay cuts with sign actions at their stores.
The United Food and Commercial Workers Union called Kroger’s decision to require that customers wear masks “long overdue.” UFCW has been demanding a mask mandate since early in the pandemic, and here in Washington UFCW 21 members were central to the governor’s decision to require that customers wear masks in stores and public places to help make our workplaces safer and prevent spread of COVID-19.
UFCW International President Marc Perrone has called on all grocers and retailers to implement mask requirements and said they should be enforced by “trained professionals, not retail workers already stretched thin during this crisis.”
Meanwhile, UFCW 21 members at Kroger-owned Fred Meyer and QFC stores in Western Washington are demanding that Kroger reinstate the $2/hour hazard pay that it terminated in May.
Eli Campbell, who works in grocery at the Bakerview Fred Meyer in Bellingham spoke out against Kroger’s termination of hazard pay, saying: “The pandemic is still here. Our added responsibilities for cleaning and sanitation remain, and so does the risk.”
“Our sales are amazing. We have been selling so much,” said Andrenna Caballero, an Assistant Deli Manager at the Port Hadlock QFC. “That's why when we were told our hero pay was going away and our hours were going to be cut we were all so angry.”
UFCW 21 members at Kroger stores, including the Auburn Fred Meyer workers pictured above, have been protesting the company’s pay cuts with sign actions at their stores.
UFCW says 278 members have died from COVID-19 in the first 100 days of the pandemic, and 44,419 have been exposed or infected.
