Sarah Macaraeg | Memphis Commercial Appeal

Memphis Commercial Appeal

On both of his scheduled days off last week, 53-year-old Aaron Washington worked what most people consider a full-time shift.

But for Washington and the 400 other Memphis warehouse workers keeping groceries and supplies flowing from the Kroger Delta Distribution Center to more than 100 stores throughout the Mid-South — working "only" eight-hours a day feels restorative.

"I was able to get some rest on my off day and just go in and help out for eight hours," said Washington, a 17-year warehouse veteran. "But other than that, the five days a week you’re scheduled to work, you’re gonna work at least 12 hours," he said.

That's only recently down from the 16-hour shifts that daytime workers like Washington, and those powering through the night, like Maurice Wiggins, logged in the initial weeks of the coronavirus crisis.

Joe Rondone/The Commercial Appeal

Mandatory seven-day weeks will remain the status quo for them indefinitely. Kroger's Delta division encompasses western Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, western Kentucky and southeast Missouri.

The schedule means that stocking up on groceries themselves just isn't feasible, though Washington said he's painfully aware of his luck in having a steady job after witnessing a sibling in the hospitality industry be laid off.

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And Wiggins, a 30-year-old fork lift operator, said he was too exhausted to even think about food, during a recent 97-hour week.

"I'm driving home so tired I can't even stop," he said of his 40-minute commute. "I'm just thinking about taking a shower and getting into bed."

But amid helping unload an as-of-yet endless stream of 18-wheel trucks; train 75 new employees; and move 120,000 cases of groceries a day, Wiggins, Washington, and another co-worker, Rodney Jones, have developed plenty of thoughts on the pandemic they hope customers, policy makers and the multi-billion-dollar Kroger Co. will take to heart.

Joe Rondone/The Commercial Appeal

The largest grocery chain in the U.S., Kroger posted a $2.3 billion full-year operating profit in 2019, according to March 5 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Cincinnati-based company also recently announced a $150 appreciation bonus to be paid part-time employees and $300 to be paid full-time employees, "to help them continue their remarkable effort," Rodney McMullen, Kroger’s chairman and CEO said in a press release. They'll also be receiving a $25 Kroger gift card, warehouse workers said they were told.

Kroger's Mid-South workforce is 5,000-strong and growing, according to a spokesperson who said the chain is hiring for immediate openings, of which there are five at the Memphis warehouse listed at jobs.kroger.com.

"Grocery workers are on the front lines, ensuring Americans have access to the food and products they need during this unprecedented pandemic,” McMullen said. “The true heroes in this story are our associates."

Governors in two other states, Minnesota and Michigan, have taken action to formally designate grocery workers as emergency personnel, enabling them to receive free childcare. The public safety commissioner of Vermont also said he would add grocery workers to the state's list of essential employees, Mother Jones first reported.

Meanwhile, two major grocery chains, SaveMart and Meijer, and the meat-packing company Cargill have increased workers' hourly pay by at least $2 per hour, according to the United Food and Commercial Worker's Union.

As for whether those possibilities could take hold in Tennessee, where Delta Distribution Center is located, a spokesperson for governor Bill Lee said his office was not considering such a move at this time, but will be keeping options open as the situation evolves.

Kroger did not provide immediate comment on whether the company is considering hourly pay increases.

Addressing customer anxiety over supply; the community need they've witnessed firsthand; their own morale and safety in keeping the flow of groceries moving to stores everyday; and their hopes for the future, the workers are featured in their own words, edited for length and clarity, below.

Joe Rondone/The Commercial Appeal

Essential work

We know our job is one of the most important in the world right now, next to the emergency and the doctors. We gotta do what we can do for the community and this region. —Maurice Wiggins, whose wife is a military medic stationed in California

You have your friends and family that you think of and all the elderly folks around you. It's very important for us to try to keep the store stocked so everyone can get the necessities they need, 'cause not everybody has been able to stock yet. —Rodney Jones, 50-year-old warehouse veteran and father and grandfather

With so many people that don’t have the opportunity to go to work right now, sometimes I feel a little guilty. I wish that there was more that we can do. I feel really good that I’m not just working but I’m actually helping the community. I know there's so many people right now, sitting at home hoping for the best, not knowing exactly what the outcome's gonna be. I don't know what the outcome’s gonna be either. But at least I am getting paid. At least I have a job to go to. —Aaron Washington

On hoarding and supply

You head to work and once you get to the work site you see just so many trucks, a lot of trucks that are there, waiting to be unloaded. It’s something you’ve never seen before on that street. It’s just a couple blocks of 18-wheelers. We have the Memphis Police Department there trying to manage all of the traffic. Going in to work, on the first days, you had to wait in line. Now they have a little more order so that we can actually get to work. They’re there all night. They’re there all day. We don’t have a problem with supply. We have all the product that we need. We have the tissue, the water, we have all the meat, the food. It’s just that it’s in the trucks. We get them in and out daily. We’re just receiving a lot of product everyday. I promise if you don’t get what you need today, you will get what you need. It is here in Memphis at the distribution center and it will be distributed to the grocery store daily. —Aaron Washington

They buying so much that we always got 30 trucks backed up. It’s serious, but c'mon now, you gotta think of the next guy. And it's putting us in a situation. 'Cause we know what we gotta do for the people. But they order so much we can’t get it done in a 12 to 16-hour shift. I really want the people going to the store to be respectful to people in the store. I watched the news a couple times and there's a lot of arguing and back and forth. But they don't understand the things we go through to actually get that product there. It took a lot of strength and dedication to get up everyday, due to the crisis, to actually go through that. —Maurice Wiggins

It's not easy. We're supplying the mid-south and southern states. —Rodney Jones

Joe Rondone/The Commercial Appeal

Safety, compensation and respect

According to Teamsters Local 667 which represents the warehouse workers, that the site is unionized meant the workers could bargain with Kroger on worker safety. The warehouse is now cleaned three times a day instead of twice as a result; door handles and surfaces are continuously wiped down and hand sanitizer is present.

It still needs a little more as far as what is being done. It's kinda congested to where you are kinda thinking about safety. It caught everyone off guard. But now its been a week. I'd like to see the company be more proactive in situations like this to keep their employees healthy. We should have been more prepared.

At this pace, our main thing is, for this effort that we're putting out — for the company to have a level of respect in what we're doing. Everyone is tired. We still trying to recuperate. But we're still coming in, trying to push out and make everything happen, knowing the necessity of what's going on. We're giving you 12 hours every night. The appreciation you show us is a $300 bonus. After taxes is over, $200. It's a billion dollar company. —Rodney Jones

Their families

My wife is working 12-hour shifts herself, around the clock, due to the virus. I just had the kids one year by myself after she got stationed in California. I just moved them there earlier this year. My daughter is ten, my son is eight. We bought a house there. But my work doesn't transfer so I came back here. Now I can't even travel, due to all of California being shut down. And the military has a travel ban. I can’t wait til they lift the travel ban to go see my family. —Maurice Wiggins

There’s a guy that wants to take his off day because he has a newborn. He feels like he doesn't know his newborn, hasn’t seen his newborn. That’s something we’re dealing with. Not being able to be with the family and do things that family should do. My daughter is stressing — that's what she called it — that she can’t go to prom, that graduation will be cancelled. She’s a senior in high school and really unsure about anything going forward right now. So that's what I'm trying to deal with.

Who takes care of me? No one, but I’m doing fine. My Mom comes by. Friends of mine, if they go to the store, they’ll pick something up for me, if I ask. When I do get a chance to go to the store. I don’t always get what I want. But I get what I need. —Aaron Washington

Joe Rondone/The Commercial Appeal

Their hopes

I hope for a cure. Til the U.S. gets a hold of that, I don't think it'll stop. I just hope it slow down a little bit. That people realize: Keep yourself clean, wash up, do what you gotta do. If you get sick, then call the doctor. Don’t overwhelm the nurses. —Maurice Wiggins

I hope that our leaders in the community and in our federal government could get things together and get the help out in our communities that people need. I hope that we can get the bills passed, that Democrats and Republicans work together and do what’s right for the people. Right now, the people really need help.

People need work, income and I know that they don’t have it now. People are at home with jobs that may not cover days off or sick days or may not be getting any income right now. There’s a lot people at home right now with rent to be paid and bills to be paid. Everybody don’t have a savings. There’s a lot of people living check to check right now. They don’t know what the government's gonna do, if the bill's gonna pass. And that’s not gonna help for long. That’s just gonna be something that helps for a little while. All the businesses, the small businesses around town, they’re empty. A lot of people are struggling with childcare with school out. Everybody’s laid off. It’s just so many people out of work. It’s just tough right now. —Aaron Washington