Laserfiche WebLink
8.A. - Page 14 of 21 <br />BROOKINGS <br />The Avenue <br />Local COVID-19 hazard pay mandates are doing what <br />Congress and most corporations aren't for essential <br />workers <br />Molly Kinder and Laura Stateler Wednesday, January 27, 2021 <br />s COVID-19 continues to spread across the U.S. landscape, millions of frontline <br />grocery and retail workers remain exposed to the virus, but without extra <br />compensation for the risks they face. While the hazards of the pandemic have <br />grown worse, hazard pay_ for most grocery workers expired months ago. <br />As we documented in a recent report with Julia Du, the country's biggest grocery and retail <br />employers have earned record profits during the pandemic—but, with few exceptions, <br />most are sharing little of their windfall with the frontline essential workers who are <br />risking the most. <br />Now, thanks to new local government efforts, this is about to change for thousands of <br />grocery workers. Buoyed by the United Food and Commercial Workers International <br />Union's (UFCW) organizing efforts, several city and county governments across California <br />and in Seattle have just passed mandates requiring some large grocery, food retail, and <br />pharmacy employers to provide their workers hazard pay—a trend that may (and should) <br />expand to other communities across the country. <br />The momentum to mandate hazard pay began last month in the city of Long Beach, Calif. <br />Citing our research, Long Beach city council members introduced an ordinance for hazard <br />pay—the first of its kind in the country aimed specifically at frontline essential grocery <br />and food retail workers. Last week, the city council voted unanimously_ to approve the <br />ordinance mandating that large grocery chains (those that employ more than 300 workers <br />56 <br />