Texas
Related: About this forum'Heroes' No More: Grocers Are Already Clawing Back COVID-19 Worker Benefits
Appreciation Pay, Proud Pay, Service Pay. The kaleidoscope of PR names all amount to one thing: a small raise for the poorly paid food retail workers who risk their lives so the rest of us can eat during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nowas infections persist and measures to reopen the Texas economy threaten a resurgencecompanies are already clawing back these meager benefits.Kroger, which is the nations largest grocer and operates stores in Houston and North Texas, terminated its Hero Pay on May 17, about two months after instating the $2 hourly raise. Following outcry from employees and the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), Kroger followed up with Thank You Paya one-off bonus between $200 and $400 to be paid in two chunks in May and June. But many workers see the bonus as a poor substitute and a cynical move to quiet bad press.
Theyre calling it a thank you bonus, but we think its just because we were complaining enough when they took the Hero Pay away, says Candice Oglesby, a 34-year-old floral manager at a Dallas Kroger, and mother of two. Oglesby preferred the longer-term hourly raise, which also boosted her overtime rate, to the bonus, which she describes as covering only snacks for a couple weeks for her kids. Researchers predict a surge in infections in Dallas this summer, so Oglesby remains at risk. Were still working through a pandemic, people are still getting infected, so why take anything back?
Jackie Ryan, a cashier at a Kroger in the Dallas suburb of Cedar Hill, notes that the grocer is acknowledging the ongoing danger by requiring that workers wear masks, and maintaining plexiglass barriers and enhanced cleaning routines. She thinks the company is simply eager to rush back to pre-pandemic labor costs. They dont want anyone to get used to getting paid an extra $2 an hour; they dont want that to be the norm, she says.
Read more: https://www.texasobserver.org/kroger-grocery-workers-wage-benefits/
Laelth
(32,017 posts)Just what we all need right now.
-Laelth
rownesheck
(2,343 posts)Sounds like the company I work for! They're all doing it unfortunately.
druidity33
(6,445 posts)Sherman A1
(38,958 posts)And with other retailers closing stores due to bankruptcy the sector will be flooded with available labor supplies for at least the next year or two. Management has no incentive to 1). Continue to pay the premium or bonuses or 2). Be particularly nice to their workforce. The immediate crisis has passed and the employees are now much easier to replace if they leave through one means or another.
Likewise the grocery chains have little incentive to bring prices back down through ads, specials or other means as the public has seemed to accept the new paradigm of grabbing something that might be needed in the future no matter the price. Grocery shopping has become something of a scavenger hunt combined with a guess at future needs and product availability.
They are making plenty of money and have no incentive to share it with either the employees or customers.