Stop & Shop and union want grocery workers designated as first-responders

Stop & Shop and the union that represents its workers are asking state and federal governments to designate grocery store associates as “extended first responders” or “emergency personnel.”

The company and union say that classification would provide the grocery workers with “priority access to testing, emergency childcare and other protections to keep themselves and their families safe and healthy.”

Albertsons Companies, which operates Shaw’s, earlier this month joined United Food and Commercial Workers International in requesting the emergency designation earlier this month. A full-page advertisement was published in The New York Times.

Stop & Shop President Gordon Reid and UFCW President Marc Perrone released the following statement Monday:

“Stop & Shop workers, who are also UFCW members, across Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York have worked to make sure that families have the food and groceries they need during these difficult times. Make no mistake, Stop & Shop associates are essential workers and they deserve essential protections.

“Stop & Shop and UFCW have worked together to provide these workers with benefits and protections during this health crisis, including emergency pay raises, additional paid sick leave, and access to KN95 masks and face shields, but even more can be done for these workers,” they said.

“We are urgently requesting our nation’s state and federal leaders temporarily designate these workers as first responders or emergency personnel,” they said.

“For the sake of workers, their families, and our nation’s food supply, this action will provide grocery workers with the vital protections they deserve,” they said.

U.S. Sen. Jack Reed says he’s seeking federal funds to provide a pay increase for essential workers, including grocery store workers, who have been on the job through the pandemic. It would provide $25,000 through Dec. 31, the equivalent of $13 an hour from the start of the public health emergency, according to Reed’s office.

“We’ve got to ensure grocery store workers are safe, healthy, and can afford groceries of their own. I offered a plan to provide them an additional $13 per hour in hazard pay. FEMA is working to prioritize limited resources and I have asked them for a status update,” Reed said in an email.

U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse also voiced support for grocery workers.

“Grocery store employees should be rewarded for their work, and have access to childcare and priority testing,” Whitehouse said in an emailed statement. “It is the least we can do for workers who are taking on personal risk so families can put food on the table. I will continue to advocate for grocery workers and front line personnel as Congress works through the next phase of relief legislation.”

Stop & Shop and the union also announced that a 10% pay increase for unionized hourly workers in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York and New Jersey is being extended through May 30.

Stop & Shop and the union announced the pay increase on March 22.