SOME RETAILERS HALT COVID-RELATED RAISES FOR MANY ESSENTIAL WORKERS

Many retailers across the United States have quietly stopped providing their workers with the pay raises they had dispensed at the start of the pandemic, despite surging virus numbers in many states.

The companies’ rationale for cutting back on this so-called hero pay is that the panic-buying that flooded stores during the early weeks of the crisis has waned.

Stop & Shop is the latest retailer to make such a move, ending a 10 percent pay raise it gave its 56,000 employees this spring to acknowledge that their work was essential and appreciated. Amazon, Kroger and Albertsons have also ended pandemic hourly pay raises, though some of them continue to give out bonuses. Shoprite said it planned to end its $2-an-hour raise early next month.

But while hoarding may be over, infection remains a very real threat, especially in environments like retail stores, where, even with masks and social-distancing measures, workers say they still feel vulnerable.

As dozens of states endure record levels of new cases, many employees say the job of the essential retail worker has actually become more difficult than at the start of the health crisis.

The politicization of mask-wearing has not helped. Store employees now risk heated and even violent confrontations when they remind customers and colleagues alike to cover

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