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66% of Kroger grocery store workers can’t afford food and 14% have experienced homelessness in the last year!
Food insecurity – the lack of access to consistent, healthy meals – affects low-income workers at devastating rates. But the situation at Kroger is especially cruel given that it’s a TREMENDOUSLY profitable company!
During 2020’s fiscal year, Kroger’s profits amounted to $2.78 billion – a multi-million dollar increase from the previous year.
It hasn’t taken those profits and paid a living wage to the workers that made its success possible. But it did give SOMEONE a raise.
During the pandemic, Kroger’s CEO received a 45% raise, allowing him to bring home over $20 million per year.
By contrast, over the last 30 years, Kroger’s workers’ wages have “declined between 11% to 22%,” according to the Los Angeles Times.
Even worse, low-income workers like those at Kroger have been struggling with the risks of being exposed to COVID-19 due to increased levels of vulnerability.
In March 2020, these workers were considered “essential” for working on the front lines during the pandemic. They were paid “hero wages,” a $2 per hour raise – which only lasted two months!
Low-income workers, like Kroger employees, work hard and risk getting COVID-19. But they’re still underpaid and undervalued. There’s no good reason employees of a highly profitable GROCERY store shouldn’t be able to afford to FEED their families!