Washington Food Industry Association calls on Seattle mayor to end hazard pay
Mar 15, 2022, 10:55 AM

People shop for groceries in a Manhattan store on Jan. 12, 2022. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
(Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Days after the statewide indoor mask mandate has ended, the president and CEO of the (WFIA) is calling on Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell to end the city’s hazard pay ordinance.
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In a letter, WFIA’s Tammie Hetrick notes that Seattle grocery stores are the “only employers still impacted by a pay ordinance enacted at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic,” and that聽the safety concerns that prompted the ordinance are no longer an issue. She also says hazard pay, coupled with the rising rate of inflation, growing energy costs, and supply chain challenges have strained independent grocers who are just trying to keep their doors open.
“Many of these same businesses are also paying more for security to protect against shoplifting, property damage and other safety concerns,” she writes.
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鈥淭he cumulative impact of all of these added costs have real impacts on our members, many of whom are small, family-owned businesses,” Hetrick continued. “Annual inflation in the U.S. is now at its highest rate since 1982. It is difficult for these small businesses to compete on cost in the current environment; they cannot spread those costs out over other stores, and have no choice but to raise prices. That hurts working families and others in the communities served by these grocery stores.”
鈥淚 ask you to reconsider this measure immediately and treat grocery stores just as you would all other public offices, industries and businesses. The end of the mask mandate should also signal the end of the hazard pay ordinance in Seattle.鈥