Market of Choice Workers United for Hazard Pay

It's amazing to see so many people supporting us! Please keep sharing the petition and when you shop at your local store, keep this in mind. If it be Piggly Wiggly, CVS, Green Zebra, Safeway, Trader Joes, or Market of Choice, where ever you shop, the employees need your support and care! We are here for you when you need us, please be there for us now! Thank you for your kindness!

And now we are working in hazardous and highly unhealthy poisonous air with no end in sight. We are provided with KN95 rated masks, if we ask, however no formal announcement of them being available was made. We are able to "call out" due to hazardous air (I am unsure if we receive "occurances" for it or not) but must use PTO if we have it. Many employees I have spoken too cannot afford to not work and have little to no PTO to cover it anyway. Essential workers/superheros is just another word for financial hostages.

As of last Monday, 8/24, the front end staff were all spoken to individually by their supervisor reiterating the fact that we need to be sanitizing ALL contact surfaces between every customer. While staff has been diligent in all safety and sanitation measures throughout the pandemic, this reminder solidified the fact that the company acknowledges the hazard, but refuses to pay us according to that fact. Throughout the pandemic the company has prioritized making customers safe and comfortable (which of course, we as workers value) but has overlooked the way in which the employees feel threatened every day. For example, we were made to wear masks months before our customers were required to - a policy that only went into effect after it was mandated by the state. The company acknowledges the hazard, it should pay us accordingly.

4/4 Hazard Pay is a hot button issue for labor as evidenced by three major unions inside Oregon taking on the issue.
The seiu503, UFCW555, and the IWW to name a few.
Actions are also ongoing on this issue at Green Zebra and New Seasons and World Foods.

We are not alone.

The thing is, to quote our CEO, "We will be better." Well, let's see it. How about that meeting? It literally costs you nothing but your time and effort to show us you care and want to listen.

3/? "Distress which is not adequately alleviated by protective devices is deemed to impose a physical hardship." Workload premium focuses solely on our physical labor. It denies the extra work involved in simply knowing, every day, that we are at risk and the emotional toll that can take as well as the very real risk of emotional/verbal abuse by customers on top of that, despite "protective devices." The phrasing conveniently ignores the physical toll such abuse can take. Daily elevated stress levels created elevated levels of Choline and other bodily reactions that in turn create physical damage over time. "Workload Premium" should take this into account. But words matter. To lawyers.

2/? The Depart of Labor defines Hazard Pay as: Hazard pay means additional pay for performing hazardous duty or work involving physical hardship. Work duty that causes extreme physical discomfort and distress which is not adequately alleviated by protective devices is deemed to impose a physical hardship. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) does not address the subject of hazard pay, except to require that it be included as part of a federal employee's regular rate of pay in computing the employee's overtime pay.

1/? I am being told that the use of "hazard pay" will not get any change as MoC never provided "hazard pay" only "workload premium." This is corporate double speak, done at the time specifically so they could say they have no obligation to provide "hazard pay" I am guessing. Most corporations do this or did this and it is perfectly above board and legal.
https://www.mycentraloregon.com/2020/04/03/what-to-know-about-hazard-pay-if-youre-working-during-coronavirus-crisis/?fbclid=IwAR2VM9_vJwpsbqLTKFPlt9vHRD1Bs10mCr4WFyiAQiqiGqiUelBRqkWyHkE