If grocery stores are planning to cut staff’s pandemic pay, they’re going to have to face the government first.
Many grocery store chains across Canada had increased staff’s pay by about two dollars, during the pandemic. Employers began offering the pandemic pay as a way to offset the health and safety risks employees face, while working at this time.
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Although COVID-19 cases are still growing, some companies have decided the pay increase would soon come to an end.
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But members of the federal government said the additional pay is still necessary. So the government is summoning representatives from each company to justify their decision for ending the pandemic pay.
Unifor, a union that represents retail and grocery store workers across Canada, wants to see that extra two dollars an hour become a permanent extension.
“The extra $2 an hour only began to make up for historic inequities in the industry and should not be taken away now or ever,” Unifor wrote in a statement, last week.
B.C. is set to enter Phase 3 of the quarantine restrictions soon, but the province has still seen a daily increase in COVID-19 cases.
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