LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – As of Sunday, thousands of Kroger workers in the Louisville area are set to lose the $2 per hour “hero bonus” the nation’s largest grocery chain implemented on March 29, despite an outcry from union officials.
“Grocery workers across the city of Louisville have continued to show up for work. To take away this kind of support and recognition for the very people who are getting our community through this crisis is demoralizing,” said Caitlin Blair, spokeswoman for UFCW Local 227, which represents hourly workers at Kroger stores. “These workers deserve our gratitude and our support.”
Blair added that the union has been told Kroger also plans to end its coronavirus-related emergency sick leave policy on May 23.
Under the policy, the company provides two weeks of paid time off for workers who contract the virus or are told by a health care provider to quarantine, she said.
“A policy that encourages people to work while they are sick is reckless,” Blair said.
Kroger did not respond to WDRB’s request for comment. But in a statement given to Fox News, the company said:
“In the coming months, we know that our associates’ needs will continue to evolve and change as our country recovers. We continuously evaluate employee compensation and benefits packages. Our average hourly wage is $15 and with benefits factored in, like health care, the hourly wage is over $20.”
Kroger’s starting pay for Louisville-area stores is $10 per hour, Blair said.
Louisville’s UFCW 227 was one of six local unions in representing Kroger workers in Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana and Michigan to call on the company to extend the bonus pay “for as long as we face a global pandemic.”
In a May 6 letter to the company, the union heads said baggers, cashiers and other frontline Kroger workers continue to work even as social distancing measures inside stores are not enforced and many customers do not wear masks.
They noted that “more not less” customers will enter the stores in the coming weeks as states ease restrictions.
Kroger competitor Meijer, whose workers are also represented by the UFCW, has extended its $2 per hour raises through May 31.
Non-union Walmart is instead paid lump-sum bonuses of $150 to $300 to its employees. The company paid the bonuses in April and plans another bonus on June 25.
