Retail Workers Are Pissed Off About The End of Masks In Stores
"That was our safety blanket, almost. And now its just gone. By Andrea Guzman, Mother Jones, May 18, 2021.
After the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions announcement last week that fully vaccinated people do not have to wear masks in most situations, retailers like CVS and Costco said they were lifting mask mandates in stores. The news came as a shock to some workers. I spoke with three workers at Trader Joes across the country, which lifted its mask mandate on Friday. (They asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation from bosses.) The workers said the news came without any notice. I honestly felt pretty uncomfortable, said a worker in Missouri who was informed early in her shift. There were actually like three or four [employees] who decided to go home that day just because it was a little bit overwhelming.
Over the pandemic, 423 food and retail workers have died; more than 83,000 were infected or exposed. After 18 months of seeing co-workers get sick and pass away and to now have to be in a situation where that could happen againaside from putting workers health at risk, said Erica Smiley, Executive Director of union rights organization Jobs with Justice, its also really traumatizing. The Missouri Trader Joes worker said they wished the company had taken time to make a decision on mask-wearing. That was our safety blanket, almost. And now its just gone.
"The move is part of a general shedding of pandemic measures that aided workers. On Monday, Trader Joes followed up its end to a mask mandate with a repeal of hazard pay of an additional $2 an hour. Yet other measures, closer to hygiene theater, are still in place, said the Missouri worker. It feels like unless youre going to put our store completely back to normal, were still in a pandemic then, so we should still be getting thank you pay, they said. (Trader Joes calls hazard pay thank you pay.)
A Trader Joes worker in LA also said it was too soon to end hazard pay. At the same time theyre taking away this money, theyre also saying okay so put yourself at further unknown risk with the public. The worker said decisions Trader Joes made over the past year were to curry favor from the public. They pointed to guidance earlier in the pandemic when employees were discouraged from wearing masks so they wouldnt make shoppers uncomfortable. Workers say the mask guidance hasnt only left them vulnerable. Theyre worried about community spread and experts worry it could lead to transmission in areas with low vaccination levels, too.
Dr. Peter Hotez, vaccine expert at Baylor College of Medicine pointed to the eased mask guidance as a reason COVID transmission might rise because of the new rules at stores like Walmart, Trader Joes, and Costco...
More, https://www.motherjones.com/food/2021/05/retail-workers-are-pissed-off-about-the-end-of-masks-in-stores/
IbogaProject
(2,823 posts)That's my local TJ.
Ugh so sorry for end of both the mandate & hazard pay.
kacekwl
(7,020 posts)require masks and still pay hazard pay if they wish.
SWBTATTReg
(22,154 posts)unmasked thugs for the longest time until they went to requiring masks and social distancing. Guess how many people they still had to get onto to wear their masks etc.? Plenty. At least at one time (not any more) that the workers didn't have to help anyone who was unmasked, not being socially distant, etc.
Some people are always going to not care one wit about anybody else. If anything, this COVID 19 outbreak showed me how many people are truly scumbags when it comes to the health and safety of others (zero). I suspect most of them are trump whiners that whine and moan w/ anything that they feel intrudes on their freedumbs...
Idiots...personally I hope everyone of them comes down w/ COVID 19...serves them right.
Skittles
(153,170 posts)so many stupid fucking selfish people around