March 17, 2020
Governor Michael L. Parson
Office of Governor
P.O. Box 720
Jefferson City, MO 65102

ALSO SENT VIA EMAIL

Dear Governor Parson,

With the spread of COVID 19 each day the challenges we face as a community become more complex. On behalf half of the 15,000 UFCW workers and the 1 0,000’s of other Grocery and pharmacy workers across the state I respectfully ask for you to strongly consider the following requests in consideration of the service of these working hero’s:

• Grocery, retail, food processing and pharmacy workers are quite literally on the frontlines of this public health crisis. As we have witnessed the demand for food and supplies reach unprecedented levels, these hard-working men and women are working tirelessly to meet the needs of the Missouri citizens. I ask that food and pharmacy workers be designated as first responders and be recognized as the essential workers they are during this crisis. With that designation we ask
  • first access to priority testing and firsts access to safety equipment
  • state provided security for all locations
  • Full wage reimbursement in the event of unable to work due to COVID 19 such as mandator quarantine governmental shut of workplace etc.
  • State provided or at least state paid day care as schools are shut down and they have kids at home yet are needed to show up to work to serve the public. T
• In the event of local travel restrictions or curfews, I request that food and pharmacy workers be given permission and protection in order to safely commute to and from their work locations in order to perform their essential jobs.
• In light of the recent guidelines limiting gathering and event sizes, I ask you to provide a more comprehensive plan that protects our workers and community within stores by providing crowd control measures or specific limits to the number of people allowed in stores at any given time.

Thank you for your consideration,

David A Cook
President, Local 655 and
UFCW International Vice President