LOS ANGELES — On the fifth anniversary of COVID-19 being declared a global pandemic and a national health emergency, the United Food and Commercial Workers or UFCW Local 770 union and the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy or LAANE are releasing the results of a survey examining the experiences of frontline essential grocery store and drug retail workers during the COVID-19 pandemic and its lasting effects on employees five years later.
Results show that in the five years since the pandemic began, more than half the respondents felt that their lives had changed dramatically, with 51.7% saying their mental health has suffered, 43.8% said they are worse off financially, and 31.07% surveyed feel their physical health had suffered.
Throughout the pandemic, frontline grocery store workers were deemed essential employees, just like first responders, yet they lacked the privilege of sheltering in place.
While grocery store corporations reaped massive record profits during and after the pandemic, these employees – especially Latina women – did not share in those profits. Instead, they bore the brunt of COVID’s devastating impacts, some of which continue to impact them today.
Furthermore, the survey shows that employers failed to provide emotional support for dealing with difficult customers and exposed workers to COVID-19 through a lack of timely and effective protective measures.
Key Survey Findings:
- Mental Health Impact on Workers: Contracting COVID-19 brought significant physical challenges, but the mental and emotional toll of the pandemic was even harder to endure. The mental anguish often outweighed the physical strain of the illness itself.
- COVID-19 Infections: A high number of workers were infected at work, many contracting COVID more than once.
- Financial Strain: Many workers reported being worse off financially now than before the pandemic.
- Customer Treatment of Workers: Nearly 50% of workers felt customers treated them worse during and after COVID-19.
- Safety Concerns: Employers failed to inspire confidence that worker safety was a priority.
Quotes from some of the anonymous respondents:
“It was scary. I felt a lot of anxiety. I was scared and angry. At the onset of the pandemic three of my co-workers and I walked out of our store. We felt unsafe when management let large crowds of people into our store despite the Health Department mandates on safety protocols. I refused to work under these conditions. I felt unsafe and walked off in protest. Then, I got into my car and broke down in a full-blown panic attack. There were many days where I just couldn’t avoid crying and had to take several weeks off because I felt so overwhelmed and unsafe. I got infected with Covid three times and my mental health was severely affected. I didn’t fully recover. I don’t feel like I am the same person I was before COVID.”
“I’m a checker. The first days were surreal. The lines went to the back of the store. We had limits on certain items, and there were regular conflicts between management and customers who challenged the limits rule. A number of customers challenged the mask and social distancing requirements in lines, so I had to become an enforcer, largely on top of my checking duties. It was ugly.
Many of us checkers developed stress-related physical ailments. But, I knew that it was my duty to keep showing up, because our community needed us at this time.”
“I am now, and have been, homeless since the pandemic. It caused me to have a mental breakdown several times due to stress not knowing how I was going to pay rent and then I lost my place to live due to all the stress. I lost my car as well so it really left me homeless and on the streets. I’m still dealing with homelessness and I’ve been using all the resources I know of in my area.”
“Customers are more impatient and rude than ever before. All manners have been lost by customers. People still come into the Pharmacy even though they have Covid, with no regard to us working here. It’s disappointing and awful.”
“Even though the stores made money since the pandemic, they have been cutting hours and scheduling less help in the stores.”
“Our employer loved to say to the public that we employees were ‘heroes’ for working during the pandemic, however, they have not shown any appreciation for the risks we took, in our pay or quality of life standards at work.”
“Customers were so rude and mean to us because they were in a panic. They did not realize that we were scared too, but we had to be there. It was just a horrible thing to live through all around. They did not think that we were heroes or essential just because we worked at a grocery store. And I believe that the company made more money than they ever did during this crisis. They should’ve compensated us better for risking our lives.”
“[It] gave me PTSD.”
A total of 476 union workers responded to the survey. The survey was launched on Nov. 12, 2024 and closed on Dec.15, 2024.
About UFCW Local 770
The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 770 represents nearly 30,000 members in Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Ventura, San Luis Obispo, San Bernardino, Riverside, and Kern counties across industries such as grocery, cannabis, retail drug, healthcare, and meatpacking.
More than 20,000 of these members are grocery store workers in Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Ventura, and San Luis Obispo counties and are currently in negotiations with Kroger, Albertsons, Stater Bros., Gelson’s, and Super A Foods, demanding fair wages, secure health benefits, reliable retirement plans, adequate hours, and proper staffing levels. These efforts aim to address many of the working conditions that have deteriorated even further since the COVID-19 pandemic.
LAANE is an organizing and advocacy institution committed to economic, environmental, and racial justice. www.laane.org.