Editorial: Monday good day to honor grocery employees

Most of our calendars tell us Feb. 22 is George Washington’s birthday. But there are other great American heroes to honor on Monday.

The Food Industry Association has declared it “Supermarket Employee Day.”

The campaign is intended to spotlight grocery store workers as “the backbone of their communities,” FIA reports on its website.

The role of the supermarket “has never been more essential than it has been for the past 10 months” during the COVID-19 pandemic, Food Marketing Institute President Leslie Sarasin tells us. And grocery store employees have been “frontline heroes during periods of crisis.”

Yes they have.

For all our debates about which workers are “essential” and who should work from home or learn to transact business online, our grocery store workers have had few choices but to figure out ways to conduct business as seamlessly as possible.

Without them, the rest of us could not have remained healthy enough to argue about everything else we argued about over this past year.

The workers at S&S, Farmer’s Country Market, Lowe’s, Albertson’s, Walmart and all the rest masked up and did their jobs like there was no deadly virus to worry about.

Some would say they went beyond what was expected, with many grocers across the region and the country implementing curbside services and even home delivery. At a time where we had no choice but to accept whatever grocers offered on their terms, many stepped up and made grocery shopping easier than it’s ever been.

FMI noted that more than 40,000 stores in the United States sell food and groceries, and their workers maintain the critical pipeline of food and health supplies.

We’ve been quick to say thanks to our healthcare professionals and first responders during this pandemic. Monday is a good day to honor another group of heroes we can’t do without.

“Supermarket employees deserve our gratitude,” Sarasin said. “It hasn’t been easy. There have been tough times, supply chain disruptions, job priority shifts and much uncertainty, but our industry’s workforce has made heroic efforts to keep communities going.

“Supermarket employees have personified compassion and courage when communities have most needed to be encouraged and, for that reason if no other, they are heroes.”

— David Stevens

Publisher