Seattle proposal would give grocery store workers hazard pay amid coronavirus pandemic
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The proposal would add an additional $4 an hour for grocery store workers.
Up until November, Maggie Breshears worked at a Seattle Fred Meyer at a job she loved. She got to know customers, saw kids grow up, helped people in the store and served her community.
But when the coronavirus pandemic began, everything changed.
"Being in the store became just scary," said Breshears, who is also on the executive board of UFCW 21, the union which represents grocery store workers in Seattle and the state.
At the start of the pandemic, grocery stores were taking a number of steps to try to keep the community and workers safe, including stepping up cleaning and sanitation procedures and offering hazard pay to workers. But by the summer, the hazard pay benefits ended -- even as coronavirus cases began to surge again, and grocery store workers said things felt no less dangerous than they were at the start of the pandemic.