‘Hero’ Pay Raises Disappear for Many Essential Workers

Many retailers across the United States have quietly stopped providing their workers with the pay raises they had dispensed at the start of the pandemic, despite surging virus numbers in many states.The companies’ rationale for cutting back on this so-called hero pay is that the panic-buying that flooded stores during the early weeks of the crisis has waned.Stop & Shop is the latest retailer to make such a move, ending a 10 percent pay raise it gave its 56,000 employees this spring to acknowledge that their work was essential and appreciated. Amazon, Kroger and Albertsons have also ended pandemic hourly pay raises, though some of them continue to give out bonuses. ShopRite said it planned to end its $2-an-hour raise early next month.But while hoarding may be over, infection remains a very real threat, especially in environments like retail stores, where even with masks and social-distancing measures workers say they still feel vulnerable.As dozens of states endure record levels of new cases, many employees say the job of the essential retail worker has actually become even more difficult than at the start of the health crisis.The politicization of mask-wearing has not helped. Store employees now risk heated and even violent confrontations when they remind customers and colleagues alike to cover their faces.“What we are doing is still very risky,” said Eddie Quezada, a produce manager at a Stop & Shop store on Long Island. “We should get at least something for that.”Nearly every day for the past four months, Mr. Quezada has followed the same routine. When he returns home from work, he strips off his clothes on the porch and immediately deposits them in the wash. The coronavirus, which infected Mr. Quezada and several co-workers, still feels like an ever-present threat.Many of the retailers said the extra hourly pay was meant to reward employees while they worked through months of wildly surging sales. But lately, there is less reason for the large raises, the companies said.“As states continue to reopen, we are returning to pre-Covid levels of traffic and demand,” Stop & Shop said in a statement.And that has changed the economics for employers, even as the health threats and others challenges for workers remain.In the early weeks of the virus, panic-buying generated record sales for retailers selling food, health care products and other essential goods.Those surging sales helped offset the costs retailers were incurring to upgrade their stores with plexiglass barriers and provide masks and hand sanitizer to workers. It also helped pay for pay raises for current employees and to recruit new workers to keep up with the crushing demand.But a more sobering financial reality is setting in for some companies. On Thursday, Walgreens said labor costs and frequent store cleanings increased overall expenses and contributed to a loss in the third quarter. The company, which had provided full-time workers with a $300 bonus in early April, has not announced plans to provide any additional bonuses and is focused instead on cutting costs.For some grocery chains, business may no longer be hitting records. But sales are still booming as Americans continue to eat nearly all of their meals at home.Last month, Kroger said its quarterly operating profits rose 47 percent, to $1.3 billion. The grocery chain ended its $2-an-hour pay raise enacted in the early weeks of the pandemic. But it recently paid bonuses to employees “to acknowledge their dedication to maintaining safe, clean and stocked stores,” Kroger said in a statement.Amazon, and its Whole Foods unit, had been paying store and warehouse workers an additional $2 an hour. Amazon ended those raises and has opted to give out bonuses, as high as $500, last month.Target paid its workers an additional $2 an hour through July 4 and then gave all workers in its stores a $200 bonus. Target also said it was raising its starting wage to $15 an hour, though that was something the retailer had committed to do this year before the pandemic.Instead of raises, Walmart paid special bonuses in April and late last month and is planning another round for September.Union officials say ending the raises hurt part-time workers the most because they have tended to receive smaller bonuses.

Updated July 7, 2020

Is the coronavirus airborne?
The coronavirus can stay aloft for hours in tiny droplets in stagnant air, infecting people as they inhale, mounting scientific evidence suggests. This risk is highest in crowded indoor spaces with poor ventilation, and may help explain super-spreading events reported in meatpacking plants, churches and restaurants. It’s unclear how often the virus is spread via these tiny droplets, or aerosols, compared with larger droplets that are expelled when a sick person coughs or sneezes, or transmitted through contact with contaminated surfaces, said Linsey Marr, an aerosol expert at Virginia Tech. Aerosols are released even when a person without symptoms exhales, talks or sings, according to Dr. Marr and more than 200 other experts, who have outlined the evidence in an open letter to the World Health Organization.

What are the symptoms of coronavirus?
Common symptoms include fever, a dry cough, fatigue and difficulty breathing or shortness of breath. Some of these symptoms overlap with those of the flu, making detection difficult, but runny noses and stuffy sinuses are less common. The C.D.C. has also added chills, muscle pain, sore throat, headache and a new loss of the sense of taste or smell as symptoms to look out for. Most people fall ill five to seven days after exposure, but symptoms may appear in as few as two days or as many as 14 days.

Is it harder to exercise while wearing a mask?
A commentary published this month on the website of the British Journal of Sports Medicine points out that covering your face during exercise “comes with issues of potential breathing restriction and discomfort” and requires “balancing benefits versus possible adverse events.” Masks do alter exercise, says Cedric X. Bryant, the president and chief science officer of the American Council on Exercise, a nonprofit organization that funds exercise research and certifies fitness professionals. “In my personal experience,” he says, “heart rates are higher at the same relative intensity when you wear a mask.” Some people also could experience lightheadedness during familiar workouts while masked, says Len Kravitz, a professor of exercise science at the University of New Mexico.

I’ve heard about a treatment called dexamethasone. Does it work?
The steroid, dexamethasone, is the first treatment shown to reduce mortality in severely ill patients, according to scientists in Britain. The drug appears to reduce inflammation caused by the immune system, protecting the tissues. In the study, dexamethasone reduced deaths of patients on ventilators by one-third, and deaths of patients on oxygen by one-fifth.

What is pandemic paid leave?
The coronavirus emergency relief package gives many American workers paid leave if they need to take time off because of the virus. It gives qualified workers two weeks of paid sick leave if they are ill, quarantined or seeking diagnosis or preventive care for coronavirus, or if they are caring for sick family members. It gives 12 weeks of paid leave to people caring for children whose schools are closed or whose child care provider is unavailable because of the coronavirus. It is the first time the United States has had widespread federally mandated paid leave, and includes people who don’t typically get such benefits, like part-time and gig economy workers. But the measure excludes at least half of private-sector workers, including those at the country’s largest employers, and gives small employers significant leeway to deny leave.

Does asymptomatic transmission of Covid-19 happen?
So far, the evidence seems to show it does. A widely cited paper published in April suggests that people are most infectious about two days before the onset of coronavirus symptoms and estimated that 44 percent of new infections were a result of transmission from people who were not yet showing symptoms. Recently, a top expert at the World Health Organization stated that transmission of the coronavirus by people who did not have symptoms was “very rare,” but she later walked back that statement.

What’s the risk of catching coronavirus from a surface?
Touching contaminated objects and then infecting ourselves with the germs is not typically how the virus spreads. But it can happen. A number of studies of flu, rhinovirus, coronavirus and other microbes have shown that respiratory illnesses, including the new coronavirus, can spread by touching contaminated surfaces, particularly in places like day care centers, offices and hospitals. But a long chain of events has to happen for the disease to spread that way. The best way to protect yourself from coronavirus — whether it’s surface transmission or close human contact — is still social distancing, washing your hands, not touching your face and wearing masks.

How does blood type influence coronavirus?
A study by European scientists is the first to document a strong statistical link between genetic variations and Covid-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. Having Type A blood was linked to a 50 percent increase in the likelihood that a patient would need to get oxygen or to go on a ventilator, according to the new study.

How can I protect myself while flying?
If air travel is unavoidable, there are some steps you can take to protect yourself. Most important: Wash your hands often, and stop touching your face. If possible, choose a window seat. A study from Emory University found that during flu season, the safest place to sit on a plane is by a window, as people sitting in window seats had less contact with potentially sick people. Disinfect hard surfaces. When you get to your seat and your hands are clean, use disinfecting wipes to clean the hard surfaces at your seat like the head and arm rest, the seatbelt buckle, the remote, screen, seat back pocket and the tray table. If the seat is hard and nonporous or leather or pleather, you can wipe that down, too. (Using wipes on upholstered seats could lead to a wet seat and spreading of germs rather than killing them.)

What should I do if I feel sick?
If you’ve been exposed to the coronavirus or think you have, and have a fever or symptoms like a cough or difficulty breathing, call a doctor. They should give you advice on whether you should be tested, how to get tested, and how to seek medical treatment without potentially infecting or exposing others.

“They got good public relations out of the raises, and now they are done,” said John R. Durso, president of Local 338 of the Retail Wholesale Department Store Union and the United Food & Commercial Workers union, which represents employees at Stop & Shop and other grocery workers in New York. “It’s all about the bottom line.”Last week, Senator Elizabeth Warren urged Stop & Shop to restore the pay raise, writing on Facebook that “the COVID-19 pandemic is not over and grocery store workers are still putting their lives on the line to keep Americans fed.”But the workers’ leverage with their employers may be waning. The pay cuts are happening as the climate for recruiting new workers is changing.The additional $600-a-week supplement that unemployed workers have been receiving from the federal government may be deterring some people from going back to work. With that benefit set to expire later this month, retailers are likely to find a larger pool of applicants, making pay raises less needed to recruit new employees.“When they first put in these pay raises, the companies were afraid their workers were going to walk out the door,” said Marc Perrone, international president of the U.F.C.W. “Now there is near record high unemployment and people need jobs.”But ending pay raises could backfire on companies that are trying to keep their store safe as coronavirus cases grow.Cathy Maerz, who works at the deli counter at the Stop & Shop in Medford, N.Y., said some younger employees had started to resist wearing their masks after the company phased out premium pay this month.“They are telling me, I am not wearing my mask if they are not going to give us this pay,” said Ms. Maerz, 57. “I tell them ‘it’s mandatory, you are going to get written up’ and they say, ‘I don’t care.’”At the start of the pandemic, Ms. Maerz worked seven days a week to fill in for co-workers who were too vulnerable or nervous to come to work. The panic-buying may be over, she said, but her store is still busier than normal.“I could understand if this was some small business, like a tanning salon, that had all this debt and couldn’t afford pay raises,” she said. “But this is a multi-billion corporation. They have the money.”


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