Update From President Bob Blair: Steps We Are Taking To Protect And Support You

April 13, 2020

Dear Union Family,

The past few weeks have been long, difficult and stressful. Our UFCW 227 family continues to serve our communities as frontline workers to get this country through the coronavirus pandemic. You didn't sign up for this, but you continue to go to work so that families have what they need - for that your community owes you their gratitude.

UFCW 227 and our International union continues to fight for you with your company, as well as, elected officials to make sure that your hard work and dedication during this crisis is recognized.

Hero Pay: We have demanded pay increases for every essential worker
Retail: We were successful in getting $2/hr hero pay for grocery workers across Kentucky and Southern Indiana. Each retailer agreed to different end dates for this pay, for example Kroger's hero pay ends on Saturday. This is not acceptable and we are now fighting to make sure that pay remains in place as long as we remain in this crisis - and no one knows how long that might be.  
Food Processing Plants & Other Essential Workers: Some employers are stepping up, but unfortunately some haven’t yet, and others are offering something and it's nowhere near acceptable. We will continue to fight for more for you for as long as this crisis continues and we have asked every employer for $2/hr hero pay, unless the company's bonus offer results in more money for you. You can read about our efforts in the news here and here.

Health and Safety
We have demanded specific safety actions, such as providing masks and enforcing social distancing for our members who work closely with the public or each other. We will continue to push for more protections for you. We want to hear from you, so that we can continue to address your concerns with your company. If you are missing supplies you need like hand sanitizers, disinfecting wipes or masks, please fill out our Coronavirus Health and Safety Form.

Retail: On Thursday, Kentucky Governor Beshear announced the grocery workers who get sick or are in quarantine can file for Workers' Compensation benefits: Gov. Andy Beshear expands temporary disability benefits to front-line workers. In addition to providing you with masks, we are demanding that customers also be required to wear masks. Crowds in stores continues to be a major issue and the company's response is not acceptable. We are in conversations almost every day with the Kentucky Governor's office on steps they can take to limit the number of people in stores. On April 8th, Governor Beshear announced a 1 adult shopper per family order. It's a positive first step, but we need more to be done. We have made the same requests of the Indiana Governor's office.

Food Processing Plants & Other Essential Workers: We are demanding your company provide proper protective equipment for all employees including but not limited to gloves, masks, face shields, smocks and other appropriate PPE in order to prevent any transmission of the COVID-19 virus. We are telling companies to slow down the line so that social distancing could be more possible. We are also having conversations with the Governors of Kentucky and Indiana to designate you as first responders, to have faster access to testing if you need it and the N-95 masks as they become available for departments like debone and re-hang.

Your union has your back and we will get through this together. We have been working hard to demand your companies give you the equipment you need to protect your health and safety and the recognition you deserve for the important work you are doing for us all. As we learn more about the coronavirus, we will continue to add new things to the list that we will fight for to make your jobs safer.

To end on a positive note, I wanted to give a shout out to our members at Carhartt who voluntarily returned to work last week to sew hospital gowns and masks and to our members at Jim Beam, Wild Turkey and Glenmore Distilleries who are getting ready to produce hand sanitizer in their plants. Our union family is stepping up in every possible way to help get all of us through this crisis.

Today, I'm more proud than I ever have been to be a part of this union family.

In Solidarity,
Bob Blair
UFCW 227
President