Angela Perez says that out of necessity she continued working as a cashier at a Food4Less store in Los Angeles, California, when coronavirus infections accelerated in mid-March. She reported to her bosses that there were too many customers who did not keep their distance when paying for their purchases and that the bathrooms were always full. His only protection was a face mask she bought herself. In those long working hours he learned to live with fear and tiredness.
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“There was a lot of negligence in that store and in many”, claims Pérez, 47, originally from Mexico, in an interview with Univision Noticias. “On one occasion I had to reject the money of a client who salivated her fingers to separate the bills. I said, ‘I’m sorry, I can’t take that money (…) You are not taking care of yourself,’ ”he says.
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After four weeks of intense work and a few days off, Pérez began to feel bad. He thought he was exhausted and one day he drank a mixture of coffee with an energy drink. It had no effect. “I had a lot of headache, a lot of tiredness. But I thought it was related to the excess of working hours we had, because I got to work up to 11 days without a break, ”he said.
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The next day, on the way to the store, he couldn’t take it anymore and had to stop the car. “I was short of breath. I don’t know how I made him park, because he was shaking, crying. I didn’t know what to do, it was a very strong impression ”, he described.
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A test confirmed that had coronavirus and a doctor recommended that he isolate himself at home, that he not approach his relatives and that he always wear a mask. “I felt like I was going to die. I didn’t know what would become of me. My children came to mind, especially my four-year-old daughter who is the one who needs me the most. I lived the fear day by day, “he says.
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Since April 18, Pérez has not returned to work. More than two weeks have passed and, according to his account, the Kroger corporation, which owns the Food4Less store chain, only sent him a check for $ 500, which has been of little use to him.
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Reflecting on all those hours she spent collecting at the supermarket and the pain she has suffered due to the virus, Pérez is upset by the way her employer is treating her. “We are disposable for the company (…) I feel like a person who was used to make good profits and if he had died they hire someone else. I am not indispensable in the company. It is very sad, ”she expresses somewhat angrily.
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“We are getting sick”
Another Kroger Corporation store, a Ralphs located in Hollywood and known as ‘Rock and Roll Ralphs,’ is also in the eye of the hurricane for an alleged wave of covid-19 infections among at least 21 employees, which means the 16th. % of 129 workers on its payroll.
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That establishment records the highest number of infections in California supermarkets, according to Local 770 of the Union of Food and Commerce Workers (UFCW), which represents more than 20,000 union members in this region. But Kroger has not confirmed that number.
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Jackie Mayoral has been working at these Ralphs for two years doing accounting and bagging merchandise. On Friday, April 24, he woke up with a fever and chills. The next day they notified her that she had covid-19, a disease that worsened and she was hospitalized. This Tuesday she was still hospitalized.
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“This is a horrible disease. I can’t sleep at night, ”she told this outlet through a spokesperson for UFCW Local 770, explaining that she didn’t even feel well to give an interview.
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Mayoral said that during panic shopping many people were entering the store and there were long lines. Claimed that their supervisors did not implement a control to demand that social distancing be respected. He also said that at the beginning of the pandemic the company did not provide masks or gloves. She and her companions had to buy their own face masks.
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“Supermarket workers are on the front lines, but we are not being treated as if we were essential. We are getting sick and this has to stop, “Mayoral said in a statement released this Monday by the union.
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In several protests in recent days, the union has demanded that in this and other supermarkets more protection measures be established for employees and customers, wide access to covid-19 testing, deep cleaning of stores when someone tests positive, 24-hour shutdown for routine disinfections, that there is a response protocol once a case is detected, that the rest are notified of workers and create a committee to review the conditions of each branch.
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Kroger Corporation, one of the nation’s largest retailers, told Univision News that starting this month offers free coronavirus testing to employees with symptoms.
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“The availability of diagnostic tests will now allow Food 4 Less and Ralphs associates to feel more empowered and better understand their health, creating safer stores and facilities,” the company said. “The safety and health of employees and customers (…) remains the highest priority during this unprecedented time, “he added.
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Kroger stressed that he has already provided masks to all his workers, that he improved his daily sanitation practices and placed Plexiglas on the payment boxes. In addition, he pointed out that he offers paid free time to those “directly affected by the virus” and created a $ 5 million fund to provide financial assistance to employees facing personal difficulties due to covid-19, including lack of access to child care.
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This chain of stores has more than 460,000 employees and almost 2,800 branches in 35 states and Washington DC. Since the start of the pandemic, it has hired 70,000 workers to meet the demand for food and products from the basic basket.
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30 store employees died from the virus
There are no recent statistics on how many employees of this industry in the US got coronavirus and died. In mid-April, Kroger reported that at least four workers in Michigan lost their lives to the disease. Citing regulations from the federal Social Security Responsibility Act (HIPAA), the corporation told this outlet that it could not provide new figures related to its payroll and the virus.
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The International Union of Food and Retail Workers (UFCW) estimated that 30 members had died from covid-19 and another 3,000 became ill or were quarantined for being exposed to the virus. Those numbers were released on April 13 and have not been updated.
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“Since the beginning of the outbreak, these workers have been at the forefront of this terrible pandemic,” said Marc Perrone, president of UFCW. “While tens of millions of Americans were asked to work from home for their safety, supermarket and food workers never had that option. More must be done to protect them, ”he added.
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A survey that this union carried out among more than 5,000 members concludes that 85% said that clients did not practice social distancing and 43% mentioned that they had observed clients yelling at their colleagues.
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They were also asked about what their employers should do. 72% supported establishing a limit on the number of customers in establishments and 26% said more employees needed to be hired to respond to the pandemic.
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