Grocery Store Worker's Union Continues Push For Hazard Pay

PIERCE COUNTY, WA — An ordinance promising hazard pay to grocery store workers in Pierce County is all but dead, but the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) 367 is not going to let it go without a fight.

Earlier this month, the Pierce County Council voted 4 -3 to give $4 per hour hazard pay to grocery store employees in unincorporated Pierce County. However, the three dissenting councilmembers, Dave Morell, Hans Zeiger and Amy Cruver, requested that Pierce County Executive Bruce Dammeier veto the proposal, which he has since done.

When news of Dammeier's impending veto broke, UFCW Local 367 President Angel Gonzalez promised the union would not take the news sitting down.

"We will take this to the bargaining table, we will take this to the streets, we will get justice," Gonzalez said.

True to its word, the union has begun circulating a petition, and gathering grocery store employees willing to testify in favor of hazard pay. Their efforts have also yielded dozens of positive comments from concerned community members.

"Without you we would have no food, and you deserve to be paid for the risks you're taking," wrote one supporter.

"I appreciate you!!" writes another. "You deserve much better treatment than you've been getting."

Supporters of the county's hazard pay proposal argue that grocery store employees deserve extra pay, as they have had to continue to work in person, potentially risking their health, to serve the community during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"For more than a year these workers faced – and continue to face – unprecedented danger by showing up to work every day. Requiring their employers fairly compensate them for their sacrifices is the least we can do," Councilmember Ryan Mello said in a statement following the ordinance's initial passage.

Opponents don't see it that way, and Dammeier says the ordinance would likely drive up costs for consumers.

"Fundamentally, the County should focus on reducing COVID-19 risk instead of driving up costs," Dammeier wrote in a letter announcing his intention to veto the proposal. "If grocery stores are unsafe, then make them safer, not more expensive."

UFCW Local 367's efforts to overturn Dammeier's veto are a long-shot, but not impossible. Once Dammeier signed the veto, the Pierce County Council was given 30 days to act on it again. If they can get two-thirds approval, they can override the veto, but that would require turning either Morell, Zeiger, or Cruver, who all requested the veto.