Thứ Tư, 24 tháng 6, 2020

We Say Supermarket Workers Are Essential Workers, But Are They Being Treated That Way? via @PhilLempert

A new analysis of U.S. supermarket chains’ formal policies for their workers, which were put in place during Covid-19, was released earlier today by the nonprofit group Oxfam that works to end injustice of poverty. The analysis shows that most retailers need to improve their policies.

The past few months is the first time in many of our lives that we have experienced empty shelves in our supermarkets and as a result much attention has been focused on our grocery workers and seen how much we depend on them. As a result we have seen grocery chains temporarily boost their hourly wages, give them bonus pay, and other organizations showcase them and thank them in their TV ads and in store. Texas retailer H-E-B announced yesterday ‘Texas Proud Pay’ the largest wage increase in the company’s history permanently. Many shoppers, also for the first time, are taking the time out to say “thank you” to these workers.

All this would seem to have those who work in supermarkets smiling from ear to ear; but the Oxfam analysis portrays a very different picture. As a result of their analysis, Oxfam is calling on supermarket chains to adopt “a fundamentally new worker-focused corporate policy that ensures workers can exercise their voice and influence decisions that impact and protect their lives, along with customers”

The nonprofit’s analysis looked at the five key areas they felt most important: paid sick leave, hazard pay, protective gear, engagement with workers and worker representatives and gender and dependent care. Oxfam worked with labor unions and others to identify gaps between each company’s stated policies and implementation – they also reached out to each of the companies they analyzed for comment: of the 5 companies analyzed only Albertsons, Kroger and Walmart offered responses, Costco and Whole Foods/Amazon did not respond.

It is important to note that there are also many regional and smaller grocery chains, and independent grocers that were not analyzed that have differing policies that are not included in this report.

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