Source: The Guardian
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.
