After announcing earlier this week it would stop offering “hero” hazard pay to essential workers, supermarket giant Kroger is pledging “thank you” pay for those working on the front lines amid coronavirus.
“Thank You Pay’ will be given to hourly frontline workers in Kroger groceries, supply ch’ains, manufacturing, call centers, and pharmacies “to acknowledge their dedication to maintaining safe, clean and stocked stores,” the company announced Friday in a press release.
It’s a one-time payment split in two installments, $400 for qualified full-timers and $200 for qualified part-time workers. Said workers will receive the payments on May 30 and June 18.
“Our associates have been instrumental in feeding America while also helping to flatten the curve during the initial phases of the pandemic,” Kroger chairman and CEO Rodney McMullen said in the release. “As the country moves toward reopening, we will continue to safeguard our associates’ health and well-being and recognize their work.”
Friday’s news follows Kroger’s union’s attempts to persuade the Cincinnati-based supermarket chain — the largest in the country — to keep its “hero” pay, also for hourly workers, going “for as long as we face a global pandemic,” Cincinnati Enquirer reported Wednesday
At that point, Kroger was adamant it would halt the pay — an extra $2 an hour for frontline employees in the same settings as those eligible for “Thank You Pay” — this Saturday though the company planned to “continue our ongoing discussion” relating to safety.
“Statements by Kroger about ‘starting the path to recovery’ and ‘beginning to see a return to normal’ do not reflect the reality of the increasing number of cases and deaths across the country,” United Food and Commercial Workers International Union said last week in a letter to McMullen, requesting he extend the pay through the end of this month.
On Tuesday, the company disclosed that in the last fiscal year, McMullen got about $2.5 million as part of a 21% pay raise.
“No one knows how long this will last and no one knows what normal will look like when the threat of COVID-19 is over,” the union continued in its letter.
Through April, the UFCW said 72 of its workers — including Kroger employees — had died as a result of the pandemic.
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