As COVID-19 continues to spread across the U.S. landscape, millions of frontline grocery and retail workers remain exposed to the virus, but without extra compensation for the risks they face. While the hazards of the pandemic have grown worse, hazard pay for most grocery workers expired months ago.

As we documented in a recent report with Julia Du, the country’s biggest grocery and retail employers have earned record profits during the pandemic—but, with few exceptions, most are sharing little of their windfall with the frontline essential workers who are risking the most.

Now, thanks to new local government efforts, this is about to change for thousands of grocery workers. Buoyed by the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union’s (UFCW) organizing efforts, several city and county governments across California and in Seattle have just passed mandates requiring some large grocery, food retail, and pharmacy employers to provide their workers hazard pay—a trend that may (and should) expand to other communities across the country.

Read the full article about hazard pay for grocery store workers by Molly Kinder and Laura Stateler at Brookings.