2 Lacey Fred Meyer workers urge City Council to require stores to provide hazard pay
Two people who said they work for Fred Meyer in Lacey spoke during the public comment portion of Thursday’s City Council meeting and urged the council to adopt an ordinance requiring supermarkets to provide hazard pay during the pandemic.
A man who identified himself as Augustine Dalton said he works in e-commerce for the Lacey Fred Meyer store. During his time at the store, he has seen it become a COVID-19 “hot spot,” he told the council.
Dalton said during the early days of the pandemic, the store produced some of the first local cases of COVID-19. He also has regularly seen people enter the store without masks, then become aggressive, even violent, when questioned about their lack of a mask by store management, he said.
He also has seen co-workers become seriously ill from the virus and struggle with their mental health.
“The insult peppered into all of this is that it’s not even being made worth our while,” he said. “I’m encouraging you to pass a hazard pay ordinance much like we saw in Seattle.”
The Seattle City Council adopted its hazard pay rule last month and it took effect earlier this month, Seattle P-I reported. It mandates companies pay eligible front-line employees an extra $4 per hour in hazard pay during the coronavirus pandemic, according to the report.
However, Seattle’s hazard pay ordinance became a subject of controversy after QFC announced this week that it would close two stores in Seattle because of the ordinance, the P-I reported.
A woman who identified herself as Kayla Kirkendall also spoke during public comment. She, too, works at the Lacey Fred Meyer, she said.
She said grocery store workers were once considered heroes, but now they’re not. “We’ve been on the front lines of this thing,” she said.
Lacey City Council members did not respond to the public comments, giving no indication they would entertain such an ordinance.
This story was originally published February 19, 2021 at 5:45 AM.
