Walk into many grocery stores these days, and you鈥檒l see two things: crowds and empty shelves. You may also notice narrow aisles and checkout lines that make it hard to practice the social distancing recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
While many businesses are shutting down to help stop the spread of COVID-19, grocery stores don鈥檛 have that luxury. And grocery workers like cashiers don鈥檛 make that much - at most, around . But like health care workers, they鈥檙e considered essential.
Inside the Village Market in Incline Village, Nevada, Bill Presswood, the grocery manager, said, 鈥淢y employees, I鈥檒l tell ya, have been great. I can鈥檛 commend them enough.鈥�
Presswood said his store has implemented new cleaning standards, added hand sanitizer stations, and even hired two new people to help out wiping down shopping carts and door handles.
鈥淚n all these years, I鈥檝e never seen anything like this,鈥� said Pam Djonne, one of the store鈥檚 cashiers.
She said no one really knows what鈥檚 going to happen next, so their only option is to clean as much as possible.
鈥淯ntil they really continue the research and find some sort of treatment or vaccine that鈥檚 effective, this is the best we can do,鈥� she said.
Djonne said she鈥檚 never even questioned whether or not she should show up for work, even though she says she and her husband are both considered high-risk.
鈥淭he community here, they need people to be here at the store,鈥� she said. 鈥淓veryone needs supplies and groceries.鈥�
Brian Labus, an assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said there鈥檚 nothing unique about grocery stores in terms of disease transmission, except that 鈥渋t鈥檚 just a place we have to go, so there鈥檚 that potential to be in contact with other people.鈥�
鈥淔or the people working there, any risk would be dealing directly with customers,鈥� Labus said. 鈥淪o, if you鈥檙e touching items that they鈥檙e touching, something on the checkout machine, or you鈥檙e handing money back and forth, things like that, those kinds of things can be contaminated with a virus and be passed on to the worker that鈥檚 there.鈥�
Because of that added risk, some grocery store workers are lobbying for extra protection 鈥� and grocers are beginning to respond. Boise, Idaho-based grocery chain Albertson鈥檚 Friday it鈥檚 offering all hourly employees appreciation pay of $2 more an hour for at least two weeks. As Civil Eats , some grocery stores in Southern California agreed to pay employees $2 more per hour, and unions there are negotiating for hazard pay. And the Coalition for a Trader Joe鈥檚 Union is , among other things, for workers and free COVID-19 testing. Trader Joe鈥檚 has already offered their employees bonuses.
Dan Kalish, a managing partner at HKM Employment Attorneys, said unionizing might be the only way grocery store workers can gain further protections during the coronavirus pandemic.
鈥淚f you don鈥檛 have a collective bargaining agreement or separate agreement for hazard pay, then generally no local, state or federal law really provides it at this time,鈥� Kalish said.
Protections for grocery store workers generally come in three forms: union contracts, laws, and companies鈥� goodwill. Without a collective bargaining agreement or protections in statute, many grocery store workers will be left relying on the generosity of their bosses, Kalish said.
鈥淭hese are employees that have been working for these companies for years, often assisting them in phenomenal profits in the last five years,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e would hope that the companies would come back and provide some assistance to employees in such hardship and in such difficult times.鈥�
For cashiers like Pam Djonne on the front lines, it鈥檚 the uncertainty that makes this more difficult.
鈥淭he customers, the employees, all of us, we鈥檙e all concerned, because we don鈥檛 know what鈥檚 going to happen next,鈥� she said.
And so they鈥檙e left with the guidance we鈥檝e all been given: Wash your hands frequently, avoid touching your face and maintain at least six feet of distance between people.
All of which is a bit harder when you鈥檙e busy working at the local supermarket.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUER in Salt Lake City, KUNR in Nevada, the O鈥機onnor Center for the Rocky Mountain West in Montana, and KRCC and 糖心vlog传媒 in Colorado.
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