San Mateo City Council to consider hazard pay for grocery store workers
FILE - A grocery store worker loads peppers in the produce dept at the grocery store.
SAN MATEO, Calif. - The San Mateo City Council will consider an emergency ordinance allowing large grocery stores and large drug stores to provide hazard pay for their employees.
The pay will allow employees to receive an additional $5 per hour on top of their basic wages.
The draft of the ordinance states that grocery workers in San Mateo have continued to report to work despite "ongoing hazards and danger of being exposed to and infected by the coronavirus."
United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Locals in Northern California, a labor union which represents grocery workers, reported that more than 700 grocery workers in their ranks have tested positive for COVID-19
Other Bay Area cities that have approved hazard pay for essential grocery workers include Berkeley, San Jose and Oakland.
The meeting will take place at 7 p.m. Monday.