Grocery store employees fear they will get sick as cases of corona virus continue to rise

Holidays are near – usually the busiest time of the year for US retailers – supermarket employees say they are afraid to go to work Patients with corona virus வானளாவ.

“COVID cases are erupting in California and across the country. Everyone who works at my store is afraid of getting infected,” said Rachel Bornier, a 16-year-old cashier and baker at Ralphs in Los Angeles. United Food and Business Workers (UFCW) Monday. “Despite the growing risk, it can sometimes take up to two weeks for a co-worker to test positive.”

The union said at least 350 UFCW members had died due to COVID-19, including 109 grocery workers. It represents 835,000 grocery store employees in major chains including Alt Delhaise, Albertsons and Groger. The union added that more than 17,400 grocery workers had been infected with the virus.

“The absolute number is undoubtedly very high,” said Mark Perron, UFCW’s international chairman. Major retailers are refusing to disclose how many of their workers have fallen ill or died, and the union has relied on local reports to consolidate the figures.

“We already have one worker dead and two ended up in the ICU,” Janet Weinrite, who worked for Groger for five years in Yorktown, Virginia, said in a call.

Shop managers are advising workers not to harass customers who do not wear a face mask, and now keep the masks behind the service counter instead of handing them out at store entrances because they are “worried about customers picking up more masks,” Vinewright said. “Groger prioritizes coins in the lives of workers and customers.”

He said Croger no longer pays employees who have been tested positive for the corona virus or who have been infected and who need to be isolated.

However, Groger denied the allegations, and a spokesman told CBS Moneywatch that the company was continuing. Offer Its workers were granted emergency leave.

“It’s scary”

Another concern for those working in the retail business when the virus increases – the crowd. “Stores are coming up in large numbers because people are saving before the holidays or customers are getting ready for a strike,” said Fournier, who works at Ralphs, a supermarket chain owned by Groger in California. “Efforts to control traffic are not working and there is no effort to ensure customers wear masks properly.”

“Our store has had three cases so far. It’s scary. It’s tempting people not to want to come in – they do not want to spend their time for such a small amount,” said Lisa Harris, cashier at a grocery store outside Richmond, Brookings, Virginia, at a separate conference on Monday. “If random weather came, or it was the holidays, those were the only things that bring up the numbers we see now. Now it’s every day,” Harris said for $ 15 an hour.

Groger wrote in an email, “Throughout this epidemic its highest priority is to provide a secure environment for our partners and customers, while at the same time fulfilling our community commitment to providing open stores, e-solutions and efficient supply chain access to new, affordable food and essentials. . “

Since March, the company has implemented more than $ 1 billion in additional pay and security measures for its workers, a Groger spokesman said. “The overall COVID-19 incidence rate is constantly being monitored more meaningfully than the ratio of the surrounding communities in which we operate,” a spokesman said.