Name: Kroger, other chains to end 'heroes pay' for frontline retail workers
Brand: freep.com
SKU: freep-com-83
Availability: OnlineOnly

critic

Kroger, other chains to end 'heroes pay' for frontline retail workers

preview

Detroit Free Press After weeks of paying so-called “heroes pay” to employees who stayed on essential jobs during the pandemic, many nationwide store chains — including the Kroger Co. in Michigan — are planning to eliminate&nbsp;the bonuses.&nbsp;Kroger announced it would end its $2-an-hour bonus as of Sunday. &nbsp;Major chains including Kroger, Target, Walmart, CVS, Whole Foods, Starbucks and Costco had been paying temporary raises to employees forced to stay on the job during early days of the COVID-19 crisis.&nbsp;Target, Amazon and Starbucks are expected to end their hazardous pay programs for hourly workers at the end of May, according to online business journals.&nbsp;&nbsp;Fast-food chains have not paid bonuses because the vast majority of such outlets are owned by local franchisees, who set their own wage and benefit rates, according to statements from some chains including McDonalds and Burger King.The Grand Rapids-based Meijer supermarket chain has been paying its hourly employees a $2-per-hour bonus since late March. In contrast to Kroger and others, Meijer informed employees Friday that it would continue paying the bonus at least through June 20, a company spokesman said."We call it an appreciation bonus," Meijer spokesman Frank Guglielmi said.The announcements of bonus eliminations by other chains have&nbsp;triggered&nbsp;a backlash from&nbsp;union leaders. In a letter sent Friday to 49 supermarket CEOs, the head of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union — which represents many of Kroger’s nearly 19,000 workers in Michigan — called on the companies to extend “hazard pay” for front-line grocery workers.More:More:Across the country, at least 65 grocery workers&nbsp;have died of COVID-19 and nearly 10,000 have been infected or exposed, said the letter from UFCW International President Marc Perrone, according to the union’s website.&nbsp;In metro Detroit, many Kroger and other supermarket workers belong to UFCW Local 876 in Madison Heights. No one from the local was able to comment Friday, and neither could several workers approached by a reporter at the Kroger in Grosse Pointe, where one of their coworkers was reported to have died of the virus. All said they were forbidden by supervisors to discuss&nbsp;the end to bonus pay.Kroger announced in an online statement published Friday that “it will provide a special Thank You Pay to hourly front-line grocery, supply chain, manufacturing, pharmacy and call center associates to acknowledge their dedication to maintaining safe, clean and stocked stores.”The company’s employees — it has more than 400,000&nbsp;nationwide, according to the business website Statistica —&nbsp;“have been instrumental in feeding America” during the pandemic, Rodney McMullan, Kroger’s chairman and CEO, said in the statement.Although the company will end its $2-per-hour “Hero Bonuses,” it planned to dish out final bonuses, called Thank You Pay, of $400 “for qualified full-time associates” and $200 for part-timers. That will hit paychecks&nbsp;in two installments, on May 30 and June 18, according to the statement.Kroger, based in Cincinnati, is one of the nation’s largest grocery chains, operating 2,758 supermarkets under a dozen names. In Michigan, it has 129 Kroger stores, two jewelry stores and one of the nation’s largest dairies, employing a total of nearly 19,000 workers, with a regional corporate office in Novi.Kroger said that it would offer other benefits to hourly employees, including providing COVID-19 tests “based on symptoms and medical need”; supplying masks, and encouraging customers to wear masks; offering $5 million through its Helping Hands fund to workers experiencing financial hardships due to COVID-19, including unexpected childcare expenses; and offering mental health treatment.More:More:Walmart, the nation's largest retailer, did not pay an hourly bonus but instead dished out lump sums of $300 to full-timers and $150 to part-time employees on April 2. The company recently announced that it will repeat those payouts on June 25. For a full-time employee working 40 hours a week, and spreading the bonus over six weeks, the payouts are the equivalent of an additional $1.25 per hour.Contact: blaitner@freepress.com

Detroit Free Press After weeks of paying so-called “heroes pay” to employees who stayed on essential jobs during the pandemic, many nationwide store chains — including the Kroger Co. in Michigan — are planning to eliminate&nbsp;the bonuses.&nbsp;Kroger announced it would end its $2-an-hour bonus as of Sunday. &nbsp;Major chains including Kroger, Target, Walmart, CVS, Whole Foods, Starbucks and Costco had been paying temporary raises to employees forced to stay on the job during early days of the COVID-19 crisis.&nbsp;Target, Amazon and Starbucks are expected to end their hazardous pay...

public

Bill Laitner

The Detroit Free Press is the largest daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, US. The Sunday edition is titled the Sunday Free Press. It is sometimes referred to as the Freep (reflected in the paper's web address, www.freep.com). It primarily serves Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Livingston, Washtenaw, and Monroe counties.  The Free Press is also the largest city newspaper owned by Gannett, which also publishes USA Today. The Free Press has received ten Pulitzer Prizes and four Emmy Awards. Its motto is "On Guard for 189 Years".

Kroger, other chains to end 'heroes pay' for frontline retail workers

No article scores yet.

CRITIC REVIEWS

PUBLIC REVIEWS