Coronavirus kills 30 food workers as shoppers ransack supermarkets

By Noah Manskar April 13, 2020

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More than two dozen US food industry workers have died from the coronavirus as scared shoppers plow through supermarkets with little regard for employees’ safety, it emerged on Monday.

The United Food and Commercial Workers labor union says at least 30 workers in the grocery, meatpacking and food-processing industries have perished from COVID-19 in recent weeks as they continue to trudge to work to help feed their fellow Americans.

Nearly 3,000 other food industry other workers have the virus or have been exposed to it, union president Marc Perrone said Monday.

Perrone said the number may be worse as UFCW’s count doesn’t include for non-union grocery stores such as Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s, which has reported at least one employee death so far.

Grocery workers say they feel particularly exposed because they have to face shoppers who litter stores with used masks and gloves while hectoring staff about product shortages.

“The fear that we feel here is absolutely real,” Queens Stop & Shop worker Gregg Finch told reporters Monday. “We worry about catching this virus and possibly taking it home to our loved ones. Unfortunately, we don’t have a choice.”

UFCW is pushing for protections, such as hazard pay, expanded sick leave and widespread coronavirus testing. It’s pushing states to designate grocery workers as first responders so they can have priority access to coronavirus testing.

The union also launched an ad campaign Monday urging shoppers to wear masks and gloves in stores and stay at least six feet away from workers. Many customers fail to wear masks and gloves while picking through the shelves — and those who do frequently toss their used protective gear in shopping carts, baskets and parking lots, according to workers.
“Our people have to go out there and pick up this stuff, and we don’t know what’s all over it. It’s dangerous,” said Aaron Squeo, who works in the meat department at a Kroger store in Roseville, Michigan.

Fears about the virus are almost universal among the union’s members, with 96 percent saying in a recent survey that they’re concerned about being exposed to it at work, Perrone said.

Some 85 percent of the 5,000 surveyed members said they’ve seen customers flouting social-distancing guidelines meant to prevent the virus from spreading, Perrone said. Another 62 percent say shoppers have blamed them for product shortages and 11 percent have had to call police over safety concerns, the survey found.

“Unless something changes quickly, more and more of these workers, both union and non-union, will become sick and get exposed and/or die,” Perrone said

‘Careless Customers’ Pose Biggest Threat to Workers, Union Says

By Matthew Boyle April 13, 2020

A thermal camera registers the temperature of a customer entering a supermarket in Duluth, Georgia on March 26. Photographer: Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg

The union representing the nation’s grocery-store workers is used to battling employers. Now, with supermarket staffers falling ill and dying from the coronavirus, it’s focused on the growing threat from customers.

Since the outbreak, 30 members of the UFCW -- which represents over 900,000 grocery workers -- have died and almost 3,000 have been impacted by the virus, Marc Perrone, the union’s international president, said Monday. With no nationwide policy in place regarding wearing masks while shopping at supermarkets, shelf stockers and cashiers risk getting infected on the job. More than eight out of ten workers surveyed by the UFCW said they’ve seen customers not practicing social distancing.

“There are definitely careless customers,” Perrone said on a call with reporters. “They are probably the biggest threat we have right now.”

Shoppers, some in masks and some not, wait to checkout at a Walmart in Uniondale, New York, on April 3, 2020.Photographer: Al Bello/Getty Images

Over the past month, the nation’s grocers have struggled to keep pace with unprecedented demand for food and other household essentials while simultaneously rolling out measures to keep their employees safe. Walmart Inc., Kroger Co. and other chains have installed plexiglass shields and one-way aisles, doled out masks and gloves to many workers and set limits on the number of customers allowed in at one time. Still, Perrone said those measures aren’t enough, and he’s appealed to both the Centers for Disease Control and Vice President Mike Pence over the past week to impose strict nationwide standards.

Some states and local governments, such as Los Angeles, Washington and New Jersey, now require customers to wear masks while shopping for food, but the patchwork of regulations has left many staffers feeling unsafe and exposed on the job, several of them said on the UFCW call. Two workers at a Chicago area Walmart have died from the virus, prompting a wrongful-death lawsuit from one of the worker’s families, while Kroger said four of its workers in the Michigan region have passed away.

“The fear that we feel is absolutely real,” Gregg Finch, a worker at a Stop & Shop supermarket in New York, said on the call. “We are asking everyone, understand the level of seriousness and help us keep each other safe. We do need to shop smarter.”

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