How is it possible that workers in the most obvious place of transmission have not been designated as high priority to receive the vaccine?
I am surprised that with all the reporting and commenting being done in all news cycles, I have not yet heard a call for grocery store workers to be on the highest priority list to receive vaccines.
These are people who are exposed to large numbers of the public every single day. They are the people who provide for our most basic needs, yet we ignore their health and the role they may be playing in transmission among the public and among themselves.
We have called them heroes in the past and some companies even gave them a small increase in pay for a short time. But companies and the government have in no way protected their right to workplace safety, or the public’s right to assume that intelligent planning is at the forefront of food safety.
CEOs at Loblaws and Sobeys should be putting their considerable heft into demanding priority vaccines for all their employees.
Right now this Ford government needs to put grocery store workers on the top of the list for vaccines and both the government and employers must provide guaranteed sick pay if needed.
We all owe these “heroes” our loyalty and respect.
Fran Bazos, Newmarket
