Pay increases in grocery stores as a result of Coronavirus

[storewanderer]

I see Whole Foods (by way of Amazon) is giving all employees a temporary $2/hr raise as a result of Coronavirus.

Also Natural Grocers is giving all employees a $1/hr raise as a result of Coronavirus.

Both non-union operators.

How does this work for the union stores? Can they, under the union contracts, do something like this? Or would it require going back to the union and going through a whole process?

I did see Kroger provided $25 of store credit to all employees... at least it is something, but the Whole Foods raise is a lot more generous. Also have heard Kroger is offering basically unlimited overtime to its employees to help staff and maintain the stores.

[Alpha8472]

Supermarkets and discount store employees are on the front line of this epidemic. There are bound to be people with coronavirus and show no symptoms. Supermarkets are increasing pay, if possible, to retain employees who otherwise would quit. What was once an ordinary job, now has become a biological hazard.

Trader Joe's is creating a bonus to be divided among each store's employees based on hours worked during the sales period.

Many stores previously frowned upon overtime. Corporate saw it as bad for the company's profit. Hopefully these stores will now allow overtime and stop cutting employee hours just to save money. Too many store employees were forced into part time status in recent times as companies tried to increase profits. These experienced employees are the people that keep the stores running.

[BillyGr]

How does this work for the union stores? Can they, under the union contracts, do something like this? Or would it require going back to the union and going through a whole process?

Not sure what (if any)specific rules exist, but it might be expected that any union leaders that tried to disrupt such an offer or complained about a store making such an offer to employees would likely be the next ones looking for a new job whenever the members have the option to choose new leadership.

[Alpha8472]

The local Safeway union in the San Francisco Bay Area has reached an agreement for a $2 pay raise for at least 2 weeks, 2 weeks paid time off for those with the virus before they have to use sick leave, and priority for existing workers to get more work hours over temp workers.

Safeway has installed plexiglass barriers at the checkstands. It is more like a giant sneezeguard. I have never seen this before!

[ClownLoach]

I believe that these raises are to counteract increases in "call outs" as more and more employees become fearful of contracting Coronavirus at work. That meager $2 might be enough to get a few desperate employees to make the decision to come to work.

[storewanderer]

How do the stores counter these concerns? There are already some scattered employees infected at some stores, but it seems to be a pretty small number of stores considering all things.

I am thinking a number of things. No more accepting cash. Or if cash is accepted, there are special precautions taken (maybe the employee accepting cash gets the N95 mask). Push self checkout more and more, frequently cleaning the terminal. Push Contactless payment so the customer's payment card has no contact with the card reader. No more reusable bags even allowed in the building or in contact with a shopping cart let alone in contact with an employee (4885 in New York needs to get on board with this but continues to act like a dictator in denial that the scam law he is very eager to enforce is falling apart- the only reason the plastic bag ban was delayed in NY was because of the lawsuit brought forth by the NYC Bodega Owners and has nothing do with Coronavirus).

I think the shorter store hours are a start to help the employees overall, because if the building is closed 12 hours per day to the public, that is cutting employee exposure for 12 hours. My concern is the customers who previously were coming in over a 24 hour period are now coming in during a concentrated 12 hour period so this increases population density in the store which it seems pretty clear at this point a densely populated poorly ventilated facility is a breeding ground for this Coronavirus.

Close all service departments to eliminate employee "service" contact with customers? Restrict restocking of service departments to times when customers are not around (not sure how this would possibly work in a busy store)?

There was a store designed perfectly for Coronavirus. It was called Fresh & Easy. I guess it was ahead of its time.

[veteran+]

Fresh & Easy designed perfectly..........TOTALLY by mistake.

If they had designed it specifically for this disaster it would have been a disaster.

LOL

[CalItalian]

Stater Bros. is giving a $2/hr increase to all employees for 4 weeks. https://www.pe.com/2020/03/20/stater-br ... our-weeks/

[pseudo3d]

How do the stores counter these concerns? There are already some scattered employees infected at some stores, but it seems to be a pretty small number of stores considering all things.

I am thinking a number of things. No more accepting cash. Or if cash is accepted, there are special precautions taken (maybe the employee accepting cash gets the N95 mask). Push self checkout more and more, frequently cleaning the terminal. Push Contactless payment so the customer's payment card has no contact with the card reader. No more reusable bags even allowed in the building or in contact with a shopping cart let alone in contact with an employee (4885 in New York needs to get on board with this but continues to act like a dictator in denial that the scam law he is very eager to enforce is falling apart- the only reason the plastic bag ban was delayed in NY was because of the lawsuit brought forth by the NYC Bodega Owners and has nothing do with Coronavirus).

I think the shorter store hours are a start to help the employees overall, because if the building is closed 12 hours per day to the public, that is cutting employee exposure for 12 hours. My concern is the customers who previously were coming in over a 24 hour period are now coming in during a concentrated 12 hour period so this increases population density in the store which it seems pretty clear at this point a densely populated poorly ventilated facility is a breeding ground for this Coronavirus.

Close all service departments to eliminate employee "service" contact with customers? Restrict restocking of service departments to times when customers are not around (not sure how this would possibly work in a busy store)?

There was a store designed perfectly for Coronavirus. It was called Fresh & Easy. I guess it was ahead of its time.

My local H-E-B has closed the service departments (seafood still operational at this time, not sure about sushi--but the deli and bakery are now shut down). They haven't banned reusable bags (they should) but I'm not sure about stores banning cash--cash bans disproportionately affect the poor the most, which arguably are already suffering the most in this current ordeal.

[BillyGr]

How do the stores counter these concerns? There are already some scattered employees infected at some stores, but it seems to be a pretty small number of stores considering all things.

I am thinking a number of things. No more accepting cash. Or if cash is accepted, there are special precautions taken (maybe the employee accepting cash gets the N95 mask). Push self checkout more and more, frequently cleaning the terminal. Push Contactless payment so the customer's payment card has no contact with the card reader. No more reusable bags even allowed in the building or in contact with a shopping cart let alone in contact with an employee (4885 in New York needs to get on board with this but continues to act like a dictator in denial that the scam law he is very eager to enforce is falling apart- the only reason the plastic bag ban was delayed in NY was because of the lawsuit brought forth by the NYC Bodega Owners and has nothing do with Coronavirus).

I think the shorter store hours are a start to help the employees overall, because if the building is closed 12 hours per day to the public, that is cutting employee exposure for 12 hours. My concern is the customers who previously were coming in over a 24 hour period are now coming in during a concentrated 12 hour period so this increases population density in the store which it seems pretty clear at this point a densely populated poorly ventilated facility is a breeding ground for this Coronavirus.

Close all service departments to eliminate employee "service" contact with customers? Restrict restocking of service departments to times when customers are not around (not sure how this would possibly work in a busy store)?

There was a store designed perfectly for Coronavirus. It was called Fresh & Easy. I guess it was ahead of its time.

My local H-E-B has closed the service departments (seafood still operational at this time, not sure about sushi--but the deli and bakery are now shut down). They haven't banned reusable bags (they should) but I'm not sure about stores banning cash--cash bans disproportionately affect the poor the most, which arguably are already suffering the most in this current ordeal.

I have seen some of the stores closing the service options (like deli, just pre-slicing and putting that out in packages), which is probably a combination of not exposing workers so much and making their job easier (since it has to be simpler/quicker to slice up, say a whole turkey breast at one time into many packages than to have to do it a bit at a time as customers order) with higher volumes of sales.

I did see the meat cutters bringing out stuff to the case when I was there waiting for a medicine refill, so they are doing that at least in this store during the day.

It does seem tough to not take cash - I suppose that those stores that have self checkout could make customers use those for cash payments - that would still allow people to pay as they wish, and limit the employee exposure to one or two people when they have to empty/refill the change machines.

Also not really sure that the bags would make much difference - if the people bringing them in have the virus in their house, they are already going to be able to spread it (hopefully only because they had it and don't know) and if not, they aren't going to have it on the bags either. Seems highly unlikely that someone would be able to bring a bag with the virus and not be somehow exposed to it themselves.
And yes, in general I'm sure some bring bags that aren't very clean overall, but that should be an issue between those customers and the stores, rather than disturbing those whose bags are not an issue.