Editor:
Workers in frontline industries earn less than the average hourly wage across all industries. Grocery and retail workers are often hired as “part time” so as not to have to provide benefits such as sick leave for the employee.
We are told that the employer has razor-thin margins for profitability, however many of these employers have seen record profits since the pandemic began. A major Canadian grocery chain reported that 2020 sales rose to $52.7 billion, from $48 billion in 2019. Revenues reached $12.4 billion in the fourth quarter, up $818 million, or 7.1 per cent, over the previous year. This allowed them to hike the company’s dividend to shareholders, which ironically happened as they were stopping the “pandemic pay” to their employees.
This is not limited to grocers. We have health services, meat and food processors and distribution centres that need to step up to the plate and do the right thing. As we have seen across the country, these are the workers that are bearing the brunt of this pandemic. In my opinion, the responsibility lies with the employers of these mid- to large-scale companies not the government to provide these benefits. Employees having to choose between going to work sick or paying rent as their employers are increasing dividends to their shareholders is unacceptable.
Sandy Beresford, Halfmoon Bay
