Grocery workers renew demand for first responder designation

"You shouldn’t have to risk your life to buy food to feed your family. And you shouldn’t have to risk your life when you do your job providing sustenance to your fellow Americans. Who could possibly argue with that?" asked UFCW 400 president Mark Federici in a Washington Post op-ed yesterday. calling for grocery and food workers to be designated first responders. "The first-responder designation needs to include guaranteed free, universal testing and treatment for every worker (and) guarantee grocery workers masks, gloves and other personal protective equipment," Federici said, adding that the first-responder designation needs to guarantee free child care, which enables grocery employees to show up for work when schools are closed. "Rather than giving grocery workers lip service by calling them heroes, let’s actually do something to protect their health," said Federici. "That’s what the first-responder designation will do. What are our elected officials waiting for?"
photo: A Giant employee restocks eggs in Silver Spring in March; photo by Toni L. Sandys/The Washington Post

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