Grocery union leader calls Ralphs'…
Grocery union leader calls Ralphs' coronavirus pay bonus 'shameful'
As grocers rake in the profits amid a buying binge, a UFCW letter says Kroger is being greedy.
Ralphs' parent company announced a bonus for employees working amid the coronavirus outbreak. A union leader called the $150-$300 payments 'shameful.' (File photo)
By Jack Katzanek | jkatzanek@scng.com |
The union that represents workers at Southern California's very busy supermarkets is strongly criticizing Ralphs and Food 4 Less over its coronavirus-related bonus for employees, calling the $150-$300 payments "shameful."
Kroger's CEO Rodney McMullen on Friday announced one-time bonuses of $150 for part-time workers and $300 for full-time employees who are straining to keep the stores stocked and clean. McMullen said the company also would expand its emergency leave program during the coronavirus outbreak.
Joe Duffle, the president of Local 1167 of the United Food and Commercial Workers, issued an open letter Saturday to Kroger, writing the one-time bonus "is shameful and it shows the shear (sic) greed of this corporation."
"This is obviously an attempt to make as much money as you can during this crisis," the letter reads. "This is not the time to worry about your rich investors' returns, but it is time to take care of the communities that you claim to serve and the employees that you put on the front lines."
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Burt Flickinger III, a retail analyst with Strategic Resource Group, said that, from what executives are telling him, the chaotic situation at stores has led to record sales.
Typically, the busiest day of the year for grocery shopping is the day before Thanksgiving, Flickinger said. But over the last month, at least one day each week has exceeded that pre-holiday shopping spree.
"Normally the three months from February through April are the slowest of the year for food retail," Flickinger said. "This time, it's on track to be a record for any 90-day period."
The same day Kroger announced its bonuses, Stater Bros. Markets said it would give all its workers in stores, warehouses and offices a $2 hourly raise for the next four weeks. The parent company of Albertsons, Vons and Pavilions said it would raise its store workers' pay $2 an hour this week, then revisit the situation at month's end.
The hourly raises stand to put more money in a workers' pocket, depending on the hours worked. If a Stater Bros. employee works 10 hours of overtime per week over the four weeks, it could mean be a pay bump of more than $600 spread over the period.
Ralphs' spokesman John Votava said the bonuses will appear in paychecks April 3 but declined to discuss UFCW's complaint.
"This appreciation bonus is money that our associates have told us they could use now, bringing them immediate relief," Votoava said in a statement.
Early Monday morning at a Ralphs in Riverside — open first for senior citizens and shoppers with special needs — virtually every aisle shared space with a hand truck loaded with boxes of goods waiting to be unloaded. Several workers, all of whom declined to give their names, shrugged off the union's letter.
"I'm just glad to be working, honestly," one worker said.
Another likened the company bonuses to a proverbial gift horse that should not be looked at crossly.
"It's found money for me," the worker said as he unpacked bakery goods. "It's like finding $100 under the seat of my car."
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Jack Katzanek | Reporter
I left my hometown of New York City in 1981 to take a job on a weekly paper in Ordway Colorado, a prairie town of 1,200. This made me the ultimate fish-out-of-water. I have since covered sports in Miles City, Montana; crime, courts, government and education in Napa , California,and gaming in Las Vegas, all before becoming a business reporter and editor in 1996. In that capacity I have worked at the Santa Clarita Signal, the Inland Valley daily Bulletin, and the Press-Enterprise. I joined the PE in 2000, left in 2014 and rejoined in 2018.
jkatzanek@scng.com
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