- Charter Communications: Will implement a retroactive $1.50 per hour increase for front-line field technicians and call center employees who provide “essential communications services.”
- Walmart: Hiked wages by $2 per hour for store employees and fulfillment center workers alike.
- Target: Raised wages by $2 per hour for store workers.
- Sheetz: Raised wages for store workers by $3 per hour.
- Albertsons (Safeway, Acme, Vons, Pavilions): Boosted workers’ pay by $2 per hour.
- CVS: Boosted worker pay by $2 per hour.
- Domino’s: Boosted worker pay by $2 per hour.
- Amazon: Boosted worker pay by $2 per hour.
- BJ’s Wholesale Club: Boosted worker pay for warehouse workers by $2 per hour.
- Starbucks: Working employees will receive a $3 per hour raise over the next month.
- Costco: Employees will receive a $2 per hour pay increase.
- Lowes: $2 per hour pay increase for all full-time, part-time, and seasonal employees. This covers employees working not only in its North American retail stores, but also in supply-chain facilities and contact centers.
- JBS: $4 per hour wage increase for meatpacking and food processing workers across the country.
- Kroger: Increased pay by $2 per hour for Ohio workers.
- Apple: Will continue to pay hourly workers despite not working.
- PepsiCo: increased certain employees’ pay by at least $100 a week for the next month.
- JPMorgan Chase: $1,000 bonuses for employees making under $60,000.
- Bank of America: Adding $200 to the paychecks of employees who have to continue to work in its branches during the crisis.
- Darden Restaurants: Paying two weeks of wages to hourly workers whose shifts were reduced or eliminated because of the outbreak.
- Altice USA: Employees in customer-facing roles will receive a 20% pay premium increase based on hours worked.
- Verizon: Significantly enhanced compensation for its mission critical employees, which are those who repair the network, maintain the network and offer products in person when absolutely necessary.
- Wells Fargo: Bonuses for all workers making under $100,000 per year.
While we don’t have a complete list of companies that have raised pay, provided new benefits, bonuses, or other additional benefits, we can estimate that millions of workers are gaining from these pro-worker policies. Thankfully, Forbes has a useful tracker of how the private sector is fighting the Covid-19 pandemic.
Unfortunately, being in the midst of an unprecedented health and economic crisis hasn’t slowed the drive by lawmakers and America’s largest unions to pursue radical change to American labor laws. One of the nation’s largest unions, the SEIU, recently called called for “fully-funded and accessible healthcare for every worker in America, including paid leave, job, wage, and economic security for every worker; an immediate investment in the health and safety of every worker and putting working families at the center of every emergency relief package.”
And over this last weekend, Representative Val Demings (D-FL) tweeted the next federal response should be worker-focused and include language “protecting their right to organize.” Rep. Demings must be referring to the “Protecting the Right to Organize” (PRO) Act, which passed the U.S. House earlier this year. The PRO Act, which NTU strongly opposes, contains a laundry list of items that would increase the coercive power of big labor unions under the guise of being pro-worker. As we stated in our Vote Alert against the PRO Act, “If lawmakers truly want to stand with workers they should overwhelmingly reject a “Frankenstein’s monster” of a wishlist crafted by America’s largest unions.”
The bottom line is that the PRO Act is an extremely controversial proposal and should be debated on a standalone basis and on its merits, not stuffed into a major relief bill.
No doubt the latest push to force unionization stems from reports that workers are organizing walkouts, strikes, and protests at many businesses, and specifically at warehouses operated by internet retailer Amazon. Workers’ rights group United for Respect says more than 300 Amazon employees from 50 facilities plan to take part in the protest. The organization writes, “Amazon’s response to the Coronavirus outbreak has unnecessarily put the lives of Amazon employees at increased risk and exposure.”
However, like many other private sector companies, Amazon has stepped up to protect the health, safety, and economic security of their workers - all the while still completing orders for their customers. According to a March letter sent to Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN), the company had already taken numerous measures that should be commended by free market supporters and worker advocates alike.
Specifically, the company states that they have:
Boosted the hourly pay rate by $2 to the current rate of at least $15 per hour;
Unlimited time off through the end of April;
Numerous preventative health measures;
Paid leave for all employees diagnosed with COVID-10 or who are placed in quarantine.
The conversations about whether workers should join a union, be paid a higher wage, or be entitled to other benefits is a conversation worth having, but not during a time of crisis. It would also be misguided and inappropriate for unions to use their leverage to stage protests and upend the supply chains of foodstuff, essential items, and consumer goods.
Despite the unprecedented economic hardship that the Coronavirus pandemic has induced, businesses large and small are doing their part to lead the United States through this crisis. Every American should be grateful to live in a society that promotes capitalism and free enterprise - the greatest system that allocates resources in the most efficient manner possible.