Posts Categorized: Health & Safety

The UFCW has been negotiating with employers across the country this year for the pay and benefits our members deserve as essential workers during a national health crisis. On Sept. 25, the UFCW announced a new agreement with Stop & Shop on hazard pay for 56,000 Stop & Shop associates represented by our union as COVID-19 cases continue to climb.

The agreement will provide retroactive hazard pay in the form of lump sum payments equal to 10 percent of all hours worked between July 5 and August 22, 2020. This hazard pay is in recognition for the ongoing efforts of these hard-working men and women to ensure families have access to the food and supplies they need during this pandemic. This agreement is in addition to the initial Stop & Shop hazard pay between March and July, as well as the two additional weeks of paid leave provided earlier this year if any workers become sick.

In addition to hazard pay, Stop & Shop has agreed to observe a moment of silence on Labor Day and Workers Memorial Day, starting in 2021, to recognize both the frontline workers lost to COVID-19 and the collective strength that union membership has provided to its associates.

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

“Since the COVID-19 pandemic began in the U.S. in March, UFCW members and Stop & Shop workers have gone above and beyond to ensure that our stores have remained open to serve our communities’ essential needs. These workers have risen to the challenge and Stop & Shop deeply appreciates everything they have done in difficult circumstances – at work and at home – as they care for their neighbors and their families during a national crisis.

“Working in partnership when the pandemic began to take hold, the UFCW International and UFCW local unions together with Stop & Shop offered union members a temporary premium. When that pay raise expired in July, the UFCW local unions and members asked Stop & Shop to do what is right for grocery workers and UFCW members.

“Today, the UFCW and Stop & Shop are proud to announce a tentative agreement has been reached on a new premium that recognizes Stop & Shop workers for their incredible efforts. The UFCW wants to acknowledge Stop & Shop for not only recognizing its workers, but for remaining committed to work with the UFCW, America’s largest food and retail union, to better the lives of these dedicated workers and their families.

“Today’s agreement is a further testament that by negotiating in good faith, Stop & Shop and the UFCW have been able to achieve a real victory that is shared by the company, its customers, these communities, and the grocery workers who continue to serve.”

On Sept. 3, the UFCW, along with Senator Cory Booker (N.J.) and Representative Marcia Fudge (Ohio), announced their opposition to a proposed U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) regulation that increases line speeds in poultry plants across America.  Current line speeds are about 140 birds per minute and the proposed regulation allows plants to operate at up to 175 birds per minute.

In 2017, the USDA considered a petition from the National Chicken Council to eliminate line speed limits. That effort was ultimately rejected after an outpouring of opposition from workers and consumers. Since then, the USDA has continued to approve record numbers of waivers to allow individual plants to operate at dangerously fast speeds despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

The UFCW has been a leading national voice for strengthening safeguards in these plants, which have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, and our union and Public Citizen recently filed a lawsuit to stop this dangerous practice and prevent further line speed waivers in the poultry industry.

Senator Booker, along with Representative Fudge, introduced “The Safe Line Speeds in COVID-19 Act” to ensure that USDA protects worker safety by ending this practice.

“Fast line speeds worsen already unsafe conditions on slaughter lines and make it nearly impossible for workers to socially distance,” said Representative Fudge. “In fact, nearly all of the poultry plants that the USDA allowed to operate faster line speeds this spring have been cited for worker safety violations or experienced COVID outbreaks. In the middle of a pandemic, the USDA should be prioritizing worker safety.  Congress must act now and pass my Safe Line Speeds in COVID-19 Act to block the USDA from increasing poultry line speeds and putting the health and safety of the meatpacking workforce at greater risk.”

“Despite a surge of COVID-19 outbreaks in meatpacking plants across the country, the USDA continued to grant line speed request waivers that threatened the health and safety of workers, their families, and consumers,” said Senator Booker. “The USDA has now proposed to permanently increase line speeds in poultry plants—an action that is both dangerous and irresponsible. Now is the time, more than ever, that we pass the Safe Line Speeds in COVID-19 Act and protect workers and communities from the harm of these reckless giveaways to corporate agribusiness.”  

“The hard-working men and women of America’s poultry industry deserve safe workplaces,” said UFCW International President Marc Perrone. “As our country’s poultry workers have been battling a pandemic, they should not have to also battle USDA seeking to make their workplaces less safe. Slower line speeds keep workers safer from injuries and ensure safe social distancing to stop the spread of coronavirus. The USDA must end its reckless efforts to increase line speeds, and instead put the safety of America’s workers and food supply first.”