'They don't care': US supermarket chain shutters stores after hazard pay rules [View all]
Kroger, the largest supermarket chain in the US which makes hundred of millions of dollars in profits, is shutting down grocery stores and laying off scores of employees in response to local hazard pay rules for essential workers even as the coronavirus pandemic continues to rage.
Maria Hernandez has worked at Ralphs grocery stores for 25 years before she recently found out her store would be shutting down. She’s worked through the pandemic and caught the coronavirus in May 2020. She still experiences lingering, long-term effects from it, and has dealt with panic attacks and anxiety from the stress and pressures placed on essential workers.
“Why are they punishing us?” said Hernandez. “If it weren’t for us they couldn’t run the stores. As a person we have value. As workers we have value. They don’t seem to care about you as a human being. They don’t care.”
In response to a local ordinance passed by the Los Angeles city council on 3 March to grant frontline workers at large employers a $5-an-hour hazard pay increase for 120 days, Kroger announced plans to shut down three grocery stores in the city, eliminating more than 250 jobs.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/they-dont-care-us-supermarket-chain-shutters-stores-after-hazard-pay-rules/ar-BB1eZhhC?li=BBnb7Kz
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