Redner’s Markets re-ups pandemic appreciation pay
Dollar wage increase brings extra hourly rate back to $2
January 19, 2022
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Amid the nationwide winter surge of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, Redner’s Markets has reintroduced a wage increase that had been instituted at the onset of the pandemic.
Reading, Pa.-based Redner’s said yesterday that all hourly store associates will receive a wage hike of $1 per hour, starting with the week ended Jan. 15. The increase remains in effect until further notice.
“Redner’s Markets has added a temporary rate increase of $1 per hour for all frontline staff,” Robert McDonough, vice president of human resources at Redner’s, said in a statement. “We are adding the temporary pay to recognize the extraordinary efforts of our frontline associates, as they continue to work through extremely difficult circumstances.”
Redner’s first implemented a $2 hourly wage increase in March 2020. The uptick remained in place until July 2020, when the grocery retailer rolled it back to $1 per hour. With the additional $1 announced on Tuesday, the appreciation pay returns to $2 extra per hour. No date has been set for the increase to be re-evaluated, a company spokesman said.
“Labor shortages and COVID-related absence and illness continue to plague our business, and those that are still out there on the front lines have earned the added pay,” McDonough added. “The Redner family felt this was only appropriate way to thank our associates for their dedicated service and commitment to making Redner’s a great place to work and shop.”
An employee-owned company, Redner’s operates 44 supermarkets under the Redner’s Warehouse Market and Redner’s Fresh Market banners and 21 Quick Shoppe convenience store/fuel stations in eastern Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware.