UFCW 21
For immediate release: 3.18.2021, 12:35 PM
Contact: Tom Geiger, 206-604-3421 ( c )
In an effort to provide some compensation for the hard work and sacrifice of grocery store workers during the current health crisis of COVID 19, Seattle passed a hazard pay ordinance that went into effect on February 3rd. The industry quickly filed a lawsuit attempting to reverse this new law. Today the judge ruled against the industry. The city’s hazard pay law will remain in place.
Faye Guenther, President of UFCW 21 stated in response to the judge's decision:
“We have pushed for hazard pay for essential grocery store workers since May when the corporations running the stores decided, without even giving a reason, to cut the hazard pay that had been in place. The city’s hazard pay ordinance is a good law that provides temporary additional pay to the frontline workers in our grocery stores who have been putting their health and safety on the line every day since the pandemic began. The pay provides some additional income for these workers as their jobs have increased risk, increased demands, and increased hazards. And these workers’ labor is what has allowed the rest of the us in the community to get access to the food and other necessities we need and has resulted in the huge increased profits for the grocery store corporations.”
“This is a big win for grocery store workers who deserves this hazard pay and also a big win for all the other municipalities out there considering passing their own hazard pay ordinance that these laws are legal and will withstand the bullying lawsuits of the industry.”
