Grocery Store Custodians Seek Health and Financial Safeguards

As the coronavirus pandemic continues, essential workers such as custodians put their lives at risk each day to keep others safe. Custodians who clean Safeway grocery stores in the California Bay Area organized a protest late last week to demand hazard pay and personal protection equipment (PPE), Palo Alto Weekly reports.

Leaders with Service Employees International Union, United Services Workers West (SEIU-USWW), which represents the custodians contracted by the grocery chain, are calling on Safeway to add US$2 in hazard pay to the custodians’ hourly wage. This amount is given to custodians who have been directly hired by Safeway, but not to the contract workers.

The added compensation recognizes the danger these essential workers face as they work night shifts to disinfect surfaces and clean bathrooms before customers return the following day. Ten janitors contracted to work in Northern California Safeway stores have tested positive of COVID-19, according to the union.

Contracted janitors also are looking to receive adequate supplies of personal protective equipment, as they have faced a shortage of disposable gloves.

Thursday evening, about 100 people participated in an “Essential Workers Caravan” to show support for the contract employees. Many of the workers are supporting family members who have lost their jobs because of the economic shutdown. The caravan ended on the campus of Stanford University in Stanford, California to raise awareness of the university’s contracted janitors who have stopped receiving compensation since mid-June due to the shutdown

The group is also calling for the passage of the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions Act (HEROES Act), a $3 trillion federal package that would issue a second round of stimulus checks and extend a $600 weekly payment for the unemployed.