From President Utecht
I have been working with Governor Walz’s office to have grocery store workers reclassified as Tier 1 “critical first responders.” Because Minnesota is under a peacetime emergency, this would make our members in retail grocery the same as hospital workers, police, EMT, and fire fighters. If successful, this would qualify our retail grocery members to the same level of benefits/protections the current list of Tier 1 “critical first responders” receive.
This would open up a number of benefits for membership, such as the ability to send members’ school aged children to daycare for temporary childcare options.
Nationally, we are also working with UFCW International President Marc Perrone to reclassify grocery store workers as critical first responders. Watch for Local 663 breaking updates as we learn more.