Albertsons pushed to make its grocery workers "essential." Now it's outsourcing their jobs

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/albertsons-doordash-delivery-drivers-vons-safeway/

By Irina Ivanova
January 7, 2021 / 2:42 PM / MoneyWatch

Albertsons pushed to make its grocery workers "essential." Now it's outsourcing their jobs

By Irina Ivanova

January 7, 2021 / 2:42 PM / MoneyWatch

When COVID-19 pushed grocery stores onto the "front line" of the war against the pandemic, Albertsons, the nation's second-largest supermarket chain, sought to have their employees designated as "essential workers." CEO Vivek Sankaran teamed up with the United Food and Commercial Workers union in the spring to call for added protections for grocery workers. The supermarket also temporarily boosted its workers' pay and showered them with praise, with Sankaran and Chief Financial Officer Bob Dimond personally expressing their thanks in the company's latest earnings call with investors.

Now, the company is outsourcing some of those jobs to gig workers on platforms such as DoorDash. Albertsons confirmed in a statement that it is moving away from running its own delivery services in certain locations and instead using third-party apps. The company operates more than 2,200 supermarkets in 34 states, including the chains Acme, Carrs, Pavilion, Safeway, Tom Thumb and Vons.

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DoorDash told SFGate that its partnership with Albertsons is nationwide, and not related to California's recent passage of Proposition 22, a law that classifies platform drivers and other gig workers as independent contractors.

Labor advocates, however, were quick to blame the new law for the supermarket's decision to outsource jobs. Passed with 58% support after gig companies donated over $200 million to the effort, Proposition 22 exempts ride-share and gig-platform workers from most labor laws, such as minimum wage, overtime pay or the right to form a union. Critics of the law said it would incentivize companies to ditch jobs in favor of low-paid contractors.

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However, one veteran driver for an Albertson's unit in Orange County said he has yet to receive help finding new work, and that the only job a supervisor suggested to him was as an in-store clerk working part-time hours — less than half of the over 60 hours a week he currently works as a driver, he said. He said he was offered a $1,500 bonus for staying through the end of February, which is less than his monthly rent, and fears losing his employee benefits, including health care, in the middle of a pandemic.

The driver asked to remain anonymous so as not to jeopardize his chances of landing a job elsewhere with the company.

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