A $3 trillion coronavirus relief bill proposed by House Democrats on May 12 includes a $200 billion “Heroes Fund” that aims to boost pay for essential workers by $13 an hour.
Republican Senator Mitt Romney floated “Patriot Pay,” a temporary $12-per-hour raise for low- and middle-income essential workers, and a bipartisan group of senators have called for a 25% raise for federal employees who can’t properly distance from others while working. The senators argued that the Trump administration has legal authority to issue the hazard pay.
So far, none of the efforts have been successful, in part as deficit concerns have cooled interest among Republican lawmakers for additional stimulus.
State legislators have run into similar issues. Officials from California to Vermont have pushed for higher pay for essential workers in both the public and private sector, but have run into budget constraints. After Vermont’s state senate approved a $60 million bill to fund hazard pay, the state’s Republican Governor Phil Scott said he “supports the intent, but needs to see how it will be funded.”
Without government action, most pay premiums for essential workers will likely expire this summer, if not earlier. That will send legions of workers back to their old wages even as the safety requirements like face masks and distancing remain.
“The retailers have made pretty clear that these are temporary in nature,” said Edward Jones retail analyst Brian Yarbrough. “I don’t think workers have a lot of leverage.”
One complicating factor for large retailers and others is what to do with pay if the virus begins spreading in some areas but not others.
Hazard pay policies are already inconsistent, even within workplaces. At the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Iowa City, all employees wear masks and face shields but only those working directly on the Covid-19 ward are getting extra pay.
“Coming into work and wearing a mask all day long—even if you’re not going into the ‘hot zones’—there’s a cost to that,” said Patrick Kearns, a registered nurse and president of the local chapter of the American Federation of Government Employees union, which is pushing the VA to expand hazard pay. “There’s a psychological toll that takes on people.”
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.