Some major retailers are continuing a controversial practice known as share buybacks in the pandemic, despite ending hazard pay for their workers or not providing any at all.
Kroger bought back more than $200 million of shares during its latest quarter ending Aug. 15, and its board authorized $1 billion in additional repurchases on Friday. The grocery chain in May halted a $2 per hour pay bump it gave to its workers for doing their jobs in the pandemic.
“The sad fact is that the CEOs of most major US companies do not care about their employees—even during the greatest public-health crisis in a century,” said William Lazonick, a professor at University of Massachusetts Lowell who has studied share repurchases.
Article submitted by, Darkillusion.
