Union wants all grocery store workers included in vaccine expansion

Some of the more obvious frontline workers were included in Monday’s vaccine eligibility expansion — police, firefighters and health-care workers — but workers at some grocery stores also were included.

The province said in two weeks, when pharmacies are able to start giving out shots, workers at grocery stores will be able to get the shot if there’s a pharmacy in their store.

This does not include workers at stores where there is no pharmacy, of which Lucy Figueiredo says there are a lot. She’s the secretary treasurer at United Food and Commercial Workers union Local 1400, which is a union that represents food and retail workers across the province.

Even since the announcement was made Monday afternoon,  Figueiredo said the union has heard from members.

“And one of our members was asking, ‘Well, is there a way to be transferred to a store with a pharmacy?’ ” said Figueiredo.

She said the situation is urgent for the workers.

“They’ve been exposed to hundreds of people in a day while they serve the customers and pack their groceries and get them through so that people can still eat. But they’re left waiting to see if they can get the vaccine or not,” said Figueiredo.

Sometimes employees are working while nervous and scared, said Figueiredo, and sometimes they’re serving customers who are resistant to following the public health guidelines.

Figueiredo said it’s good that the workers are being redefined under the vaccine plan, but believes it needs to be broadened even more. She said she’d like to think the change was made because the government was responding to demand from workers.

“We’ve been trying to advocate on behalf of the retail workers throughout the entire pandemic, trying to get mandated restrictions and stuff to limit their exposure to the virus,” said Figueiredo.

Figueiredo couldn’t say how many of their members have got sick during the pandemic; it’s not a requirement for employers to report that to the union. But she did say the union knows of several outbreaks that have happened at workplaces.

It’s not just other grocery workers Figueiredo believes need to be included in the vaccine plan. She said food process workers — like those at Prairie Pride Natural Goods, which had an outbreak declared in February — should be included as well.