We are more than 4,000 warehouse workers and truck drivers that live in your communities. We sort, pack, and transport the food and supplies you and your family depend on every day. We have been working around the clock throughout this pandemic to keep the shelves stocked and we are grateful for your continued patronage of this store.
​
It hasn’t been easy. As the Los Angeles Times reported in late August, more than 100 of us working at the Ralphs warehouse in Compton contracted COVID-19 at work and passed it on to family members at home. Now the deadly virus is spiking at other warehouses and we are worried for ourselves, for our families, and for you because the virus is known to spread on surfaces like the food and supplies we touch.
The supermarket chains were very slow to implement adequate safety protocols to protect us and some of us had no choice but to file a lawsuit against Ralphs. But to add insult to injury, now the grocers – despite record-breaking profits – are telling our families that we need to pay more (a lot more) for our health care and we just can’t afford it.
The grocers’ plan is not just greedy; it is dangerous. Studies show that when workers pay more for their healthcare, they are much more likely to defer or avoid expensive medical care altogether, which is particularly perilous in the midst of a pandemic that has struck 30 million people around the globe and killed more than 200,000 people in America alone.
Report: The Southern California Grocery Industry’s Hidden Supply Chain
