LANSING —Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has used her "pocket veto" on legislation intended to give significant tax cuts to Michigan-based grocery giant Meijer reports The Detroit Free Press.The bills, which lawmakers said were aimed specifically at Meijer, would have removed sales tax from the purchase of automated material handling systems — used at central handling centers to prepare pallets of consumer goods for distribution to grocery stores — and remove personal property tax from
LANSING Gov. Gretchen Whitmer says she is “skeptical” of legislation passed with bipartisan support during the Legislature’s lame duck session aimed at giving significant tax breaks to Grand Rapids-based grocer Meijer for the purchase and retention of automation equipment.
Whitmer must decide whether to sign Senate Bills 1149, 1150 and 1153, which remove sales tax from the purchase of automated material handling systems and remove personal property tax from such systems, once installed.
The bills have reached Whitmer s desk as the state is facing declining revenues and increased costs during the coronavirus pandemic, and as Michigan grocers are seeing sharply increased profits. Still, the bills have support from what many would consider an unlikely source the United Food and Commercial Workers Union that represents tens of thousands of grocery workers in Michigan.
One of the main sources of stress? Customer behavior.
“The mental health of these workers was much worse than we thought,” says Brian Mayer, an associate professor in the University of Arizona School of Sociology in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences and lead author of the report.
“The number of people reporting severe mental health distress is two, three times what other surveys are finding during the pandemic. Clearly, frontline essential workers’ mental health is being harmed by the conditions created by the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The report is based on a survey Mayer and colleagues conducted in collaboration with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 99, which represents workers in nearly half of all grocery stores in Arizona.
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California Gov. Gavin Newsom says that he expects regional stay-at-home orders to remain in place past their initial three week period, as availability of hospital beds across the state continues to drop. According to KPIX, Newsom said that ICU rates have shot up by 51 percent in the past two weeks, and the state only has 2.5 percent availability of hospital beds. Even in the Bay Area, only 13.7 percent of hospital beds are free, which means that activities like outdoor dining will remain off the table until that number improves. The Bay Area’s stay-at-home order is currently expected to lift on January 7, but Newsom says that “We are likely – I think it’s pretty self-evide
Grocery workers deserve hazard pay during COVID-19 surge
John Nunes
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Esther Williams checks out at a Safeway in Mill Valley in March.Gabrielle Lurie / The Chronicle
COVID-19 has made us more cognizant of routines that we no longer take for granted. It has also made us more appreciative of the workers who keep our vital routines intact, despite the risks to their health and their families.
Thanks to these essential workers, neighborhood grocery and drug stores continue to remain open and stocked during the pandemic. While they enjoy recognition for their sacrifice, it should also be reflected in additional compensation.