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Coronavirus kills 30 food workers as shoppers ransack supermarkets

By
Noah Manskar
Published April 13, 2020
Updated April 14, 2020, 9:07 a.m. ET

More than two dozen US food industry workers have died from the coronavirus as scared shoppers plow through supermarkets with little regard for employees’ safety, it emerged on Monday.

The United Food and Commercial Workers labor union says at least 30 workers in the grocery, meatpacking and food-processing industries have perished from COVID-19 in recent weeks as they continue to trudge to work to help feed their fellow Americans.

Nearly 3,000 other food industry workers have the virus or have been exposed to it, union president Marc Perrone said Monday.

Perrone said the number may be worse as the UFCW’s count doesn’t include staff at non-union grocery stores such as Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s, which has reported at least one employee death so far.

Grocery workers say they feel particularly exposed because they have to face shoppers who litter stores with used masks and gloves while hectoring staff about product shortages.

“The fear that we feel here is absolutely real,” Queens Stop & Shop worker Gregg Finch told reporters Monday. “We worry about catching this virus and possibly taking it home to our loved ones. Unfortunately, we don’t have a choice.”

The UFCW is pushing for protections, such as hazard pay, expanded sick leave and widespread coronavirus testing. It’s pushing states to designate grocery workers as first responders so they can have priority access to coronavirus testing.

The union also launched an ad campaign Monday urging shoppers to wear masks and gloves in stores and stay at least six feet away from workers. Many customers fail to wear masks and gloves while picking through the shelves — and those who do frequently toss their used protective gear in shopping carts, baskets and parking lots, according to workers.

“Our people have to go out there and pick up this stuff, and we don’t know what’s all over it. It’s dangerous,” said Aaron Squeo, who works in the meat department at a Kroger store in Roseville, Michigan.

Fears about the virus are almost universal among the union’s members, with 96 percent saying in a recent survey that they’re concerned about being exposed to it at work, Perrone said.

Some 85 percent of the 5,000 surveyed members said they’ve seen customers flouting social-distancing guidelines meant to prevent the virus from spreading, Perrone said. Another 62 percent say shoppers have blamed them for product shortages and 11 percent have had to call police over safety concerns, the survey found.

“Unless something changes quickly, more and more of these workers, both union and non-union, will become sick and get exposed and/or die,” Perrone said.