Late last night Giant Food announced that as of today, Saturday, May 15, vaccinated associates and customers will no longer be required to wear masks in their stores in Virginia and Charles, Calvert, and St. Mary’s Counties in Maryland. While we understand that this is their choice under new guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and orders from the Governors of Virginia and Maryland, we have grave concerns about how this will impact the health and safety of our members who have been working on the front lines for over a year now.
Giant has said they will not be asking customers to show proof that they have been vaccinated, but there is still the risk of confrontations over this new policy, and we will continue to insist that our members not be the ones to enforce this new policy or be asked to put themselves in a dangerous situation if they have a good reason to feel unsafe serving a customer. We will be closely monitoring the impact of this new policy and will continue to ensure that our members are healthy and safe at work.