The United Food & Commercial Workers Local 400 is demanding that food workers be designated as first responders, and a strict limit be placed on the number of customers allowed in grocery stores.
The move comes as 14 grocery store workers and three food processing plant employees were diagnosed with the new coronavirus. And there are more cases waiting to be confirmed; union authorities tell Potomac Local News.
Multiple cases of the new coronavirus have been confirmed across the state.
- There are four cases at multiple Kroger stores in and around Richmond
- Two cases at a Kroger in Yorktown
- Two cases at a Giant in Alexandria, two cases at a Boar’s Head facility in Jarrat
- One case at a Giant in Chantilly
- One case at a Giant in Arlington
- One case at a Giant in Annandale
- one case at a Giant in Falls Church
- One case at a Giant in Ashburn
- One case at a Safeway in Reston
- One case at a Lipton Tea Plant in Suffolk
To advocate for the new designation for food workers, UFCW Local 400 set up a petition that generates a message to a state leader of your choosing, telling them to give food workers first responder status.
“This action has already generated hundreds of messages to Northam. It is our hope that he does something, we absolutely are doing this because it is our intention to make this happen, not to just protect our members, but to protect customers,” said UFCW Local 400 Communications Director Johnathan Williams.
While food workers are far from the typical idea of what a first responder looks like, Williams emphasized that they deserve the title and the medical benefits that come with it. With first responder status, food workers would gain more access to testing and protective equipment, things that Williams said are necessary to understand how widespread the virus is in the food supply chain.
“We have no idea how widespread the disease is in grocery stores, we’re very concerned about grocery store workers being exposed, and about grocery store workers being asymptomatic, and them potentially exposing customers,” said Williams.
UFCW Local 400 is not the only one who supports food workers getting this recognition, Delegates Danica Roem (D-13, Prince William, Manassas Park) and Joshua Cole (D-28, Fredericksburg, Stafford) are advocates for it as well.
“Our office is supportive of grocery store workers and Union Local 400 in their efforts to gain first responder status during the COVID-19 epidemic. This is an issue of workplace hazard exposure and a solution is better access to PPEs for workers,” said Delegate Cole.
“If the simple reclassification of those workers in a temporary way is what it takes for us to make sure they are eligible to get masks and gloves to handle our food safely, we should go and do that. We have to treat grocery store workers with the respect and dignity they have earned,” said Delegate Roem.
Delegate Jennifer Carroll Foy (D-2, Stafford, Woodbridge), who is now a Virginia gubernatorial candidate, also emailed Potomac Local News expressing her support of the measure.
