Today, UFCW Local 400 President Mark Federici renewed our call on all the employers where our members work to immediately reinstate hazard pay. His letter to employers reads, in part:
“Cases of COVID-19 are spiking once again due to the highly contagious Omicron variant. Despite the continued hazard COVID-19 presents to our members, it has been over a year since you have provided any hazard pay to your employees who continue to come to work every day to keep the company operating and profitable.
We are once again calling on you to reinstate hazard pay. The burden on our members continues to be high as they go into a workplace where, even if they have done the right thing and gotten vaccinated and boosted, they are putting themselves at risk and then going home to their families, not knowing if they could be spreading this disease to them. Many are taking on additional costs to avoid public transportation, change and wash clothes more often, pay for additional testing, or isolate themselves from their families. This is on top of child care and other costs as schools stay closed or virtual.
COVID has changed the industry, made your company more profitable, and turned your place of business into a hazardous workplace. It is past time to put some of these new profits in the pockets of the people facing the hazard every day.”
Local 400 will not stop calling on employers to reinstate hazard pay as long as the dangers of the COVID pandemic persist.