Grocery workers seek better pay and conditions as chains reap huge profits

theguardian.com:

After more than two years as essential workers on the frontlines of the Covid-19 pandemic, grocery store workers around the US are pressuring supermarket corporations to raise wages and improve working conditions amid record profits for the industry.

Ahead of the expiration of their union contract, 60,000 grocery workers at subsidiaries of Kroger and Albertsons in California are holding actions outside stores, demanding at least a $5 wage increase over three years, improved safety and security for workers, improved staffing and eliminating the two-tier system of workers.

James Peete has worked as a food clerk at Ralphs, a subsidiary of Kroger, in Glendale, California, for nine years. During the pandemic, Peete claimed his department and store has been understaffed to a skeleton crew.

“When we had a lot of people out with Covid, I was working 12 to 15 hours, six days a week, and so were many of my co-workers,” said Peete.

Peete said that with every new contract, Ralphs tries to expand the classification of workers under general merchandise, which pays less at $16 an hour, forcing many workers to work multiple jobs to make ends meet.

When the City of Los Angeles enacted a $5 an hour hazard pay for grocery workers for four months in early 2021, Kroger shut down three local stores, and Peete argued management pressured workers to ramp up production during those periods.

“In their most profitable years ever, closing stores down to punish us for getting hazard pay definitely ruined morale. Like many of my coworkers, when we got that $5 an hour pay increase temporarily, we were pushed incredibly hard,” Peete said.

Grocery workers around the US have expressed similar grievances throughout the pandemic, as pay has lagged behind while