Leland Presley, a cake decorator at Publix, says he’s getting an 85-cent an hour raise, but he wants the grocery store chain where he enjoys working to do more.
“That’s the most I’ve ever gotten in 12 years of Publix,” said Presley, a 52-year-old who lives in Alabama near Birmingham. He said he would like to put away more money for retirement. “I’m not going to be a 90-year-old cake decorator one day,” he said.
So Presley started an online petition on Coworker.org in April asking Publix to give its workers 10% annual raises. It had gained about 7,700 supporters as of Monday.
“We show up every day, work so hard to keep our company going and to do everything we can to serve our public,” the petition reads in part. “Corporate and managers benefit from huge incentives, bonuses and raises, while we (the associates, i.e., the wheels on the bus), are only given the occasional Publix gift card, no bonuses and no raises … other than the possibility of a dime or quarter per year. … It’s time the everyday people, the ones who make it happen, get our fair share. We deserve better.”
Representatives for Publix did not respond to a request to comment for this story. The grocer employs more than 230,000 people and has nearly 1,300 stores in seven states.
Of those who have signed the petition, more than 3,555 have checked a box indicating they work at Publix, said Tim Newman, a campaigns director with Coworker.org, which helps people organize to improve their workplaces.
“This is one of the most popular petitions on the site at the moment,” Newman said.
A petition on the website started in 2015 gained more than 20,500 signatures asking for Publix staffers to be allowed to have beards. That policy changed in 2018.
Presley said his raise will put him at $20 an hour, the top amount he can earn in his position until Publix changes its pay scales.
Employees getting “topped out” is one of the concerns listed in the petition, along with raises not keeping up with inflation.
“I think Publix is a great company, and I enjoy my job and I’m thankful,” Presley said. “I’m not saying $20 an hour is bad. I think $20 an hour is fantastic. … I’m just saying that I want them to read the comments on the petition from their associates and to make that pay system fair where people now cannot make it on a 25-cent raise for an entire year with … inflation what it is now.”
Some commenters on the petition, identified only by their first name and last initial, shared information about their raises or the struggles they’ve experienced. One person said they recently had to leave the business because they were choosing between gassing up their car or eating.
Workers beyond just Publix are dealing with their paychecks not matching how much more everyday items cost.
Wages and salaries increased 5.3% for the year ending in June 2022, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data, but the Consumer Price Index for all items went up 9.1% over the last year.
Essentials such as food and gas went up even more.
Groceries saw a 12.2% increase in the 12 months ending in June, and energy went up 41.6%, with a 59.9% spike in gasoline.
“Because prices are rising faster than wages, even though workers are getting more money in their paychecks, they’re able to buy less with that money,” said Sean Snaith, director of the Institute for Economic Forecasting at University of Central Florida. “In real terms, in terms of what you can buy, that represents a pay cut.”
Employees elsewhere have taken other measures to try to improve working conditions, such as Starbucks staffers voting to unionize, including at a store in Oviedo.
“There are a lot of people calling for higher wages so this is just one example of how employees are coming together to increase wages and to speak about their working conditions more broadly,” Newman said.
Or as Ethan Ramsay, 21, of Miami, put it: “Everyone’s struggling.”
Ramsay said he makes $11 an hour in his part-time Publix job working in customer service and as a cashier and bagger. He has another job and signed the petition after one of his store’s shift leaders showed it to him.
He said September will mark two years with the grocery chain.
“People enjoy the environment at Publix and like customer relations with employees,” Ramsay said. “Everyone comes in, they know us from the community.”
Florida’s minimum wage went to $10 an hour last September, and is expected to go up again to $11 this September as it gradually grows to $15 an hour in 2026 because of a constitutional amendment approved by Florida voters in 2020.
Publix’s sales for the quarter ending June 25 were $12.9 billion, up 9.3% from $11.8 billion the year before.
The employee-owned company conducted a stock split in April, awarding four additional shares for each share someone owned. The move lowered the stock price from $68.80 per share to $13.76, allowing workers to buy stocks for less money. The stock then increased to $14.91 in May, but fell to $13.84 on Monday.
“That [stock split] was a good thing for us because it makes it affordable for us to purchase stock,” Presley said.
Only employees and Publix board members can buy the company’s stock.
Presley said he has not heard from Publix about his petition, but he is worried the company will not be pleased. He remains committed to the campaign.
“That’s the only way that change ever happens,” Presley said. “Change is not comfortable.”
afuller@orlandosentinel.com
