UFCW Seeks Action from CEOs Amid COVID Surge, Inflation

The United Food and Commercial Workers union on Dec. 10 sent a letter to dozens of grocery CEOs and leaders of other large retailers calling for more action to protect workers in the face of rising cases of COVID-19 and the emergence in the U.S. of the Omicron variant.

The letter, signed by UFCW International President Marc Perrone, is addressed to 63 food retail executives—including Amazon's Andy Jassy, Walmart's Doug McMillon, Kroger's Rodney McMullen, Target's Brian Cornell and Whole Foods Market's John Mackey. In it, the UFCW urges retailers to promote mask-wearing for all customers, re-establish social-distancing measures, and support initial vaccination and booster doses for all essential workers through on-site vaccine clinics and paid leave. (Walmart, which last week said it's "keeping a close eye" on emerging variants, recently brought back its $150 incentive for frontline associates to get fully vaccinated.)

The UFCW also seeks "inflation wage protection" for workers, with Perrone calling for higher pay for workers amid inflation levels not seen in decades. 

"The exploding spike in food prices is impacting all workers and has added an additional burden to many essential workers—especially those with families," Perrone wrote. "Food and retail companies must use record profit margins to increase worker hourly pay and alleviate the impact of inflation."

See also: Rising Wages Aren't Keeping Pace With Inflation

The Bureau of Labor Statistics, in its November jobs report last week, noted that wages last month for production and nonsupervisory employees increased 12 cents to an average of $26.40 an hour. That was a higher increase than the 8-cent gain for all private-sector employees, whose average hourly earnings now stand at $31.03.

Amazon and Target have starting wages of $15 an hour; Walmart Inc. moved minimum wages this fall to $12 an hour at Walmart stores and $15 an hour at Sam's Club stores. The retailer has also stated that the average hourly wage at Walmart U.S. locations stands at $16.40.

However, following the Dec. 10 release of the bureau's Consumer Price Index (CPI) for November, the BLS reported that escalating inflation resulted in a 1.6% decrease in real average hourly earnings for production and nonsupervisory workers over the past 12 months.

"Regardless of the actions you have taken in the past, we remain determined to work together with you to do what is necessary to protect our essential workers who have already risked and sacrificed so much," Perrone concluded in the UFCW's letter. According to union data, nearly 69,000 UFCW workers have tested positive for COVID since the pandemic began, and at least 497 have died.