Retailer Kroger announced Monday that it will permanently close two of its stores in Southern California due to what it says is a direct result of a city mandate requiring an additional $ 4.00 per hour ‘hero pay’ for essentials. workers.
A spokesman for the grocery company told FOX Business on Tuesday that Long Beach’s “misconduct” in the city council of an ordinance granting Extra Pay exceeded the traditional bargaining process and that it only applies to some, but not all, grocery workers in City. “
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“The irreparable damage that workers and local citizens will suffer as a direct result of the City of Long Beach’s effort to select winners and losers is very unfortunate,” they said. “We are very sad that our associates and customers will eventually be the real victims of the city council’s actions.”
The Ralphs store at 3380 N. Los Coyotes Diagonal and Food 4 Less store at 2185 E. South Street will both close on April 17, 2021.
Long Beach City Council – backed by Democratic Mayor Robert Garcia – approved the ‘pay hero’ law in January.
The ordinance applies to companies with 300 or more workers nationally and more than 15 employees in each story and will remain in place for at least 120 days, according to Long Beach Post News.
| Ticker | Safety | Last | Alter | Alter% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| KR | KROGER | 33.88 | +0.77 | + 2.32% |
Garcia’s office pointed to FOX Business on its Twitter account, but noted that they would be in the case.
Garcia wrote on Monday that groceries were “making record profits” and that they would go to court in February to defend the workers strongly.
In response to his tweet, Garcia received a report from The Brookings Institution, a nonprofit public policy, in Washington, DC, showing that Kroger ended his initial $ 2 “hero pay” in May, despite “doubling his profits” and nearly a billion dollars. in 2020 to buy back its own shares. ‘
“When big business makes record profits and doubles their earnings, they should share the success with those who provide the labor. Period,” the mayor tweeted later Tuesday. with praise for the Los Angeles City Council for supporting $ 5 “hero payment” for both groceries and drugstores.
The devastating economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has plagued major industries over the past few months, forcing airlines to cancel flights, hotels to stop bookings and restaurants to move businesses out.
Millions of Americans lost their jobs – some for an indefinite period of time – or were knocked down, while unemployment rose to 14.7% in April.
Kroger’s spokesman told FOX Business that the company is proud of its dedicated employees who serve customers in the front line. Since March, they have said their companies have invested $ 1.3 billion to properly implement “dozens of security measures” and “reward employees”.
“We started implementing these security measures early in the pandemic and we have only strengthened our vigilance and determination,” they said.
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“We also continue to support our employees through benefits such as paid emergency leave and our organization’s $ 15 million Helping Hands Fund that provides financial support to employees who are experiencing certain hardships due to COVID-19,” the spokesman said.
“This extra payment is in addition to the total compensation package that Ralphs and Food 4 Less has been offering to our employees for a long time, which includes competitive wages, strong healthcare coverage and reliable pension benefits.”
“Despite these challenging circumstances, as the grocery store in Southern California, we remain committed to serving our communities and we are grateful for our dedicated employees who serve our customers every day,” they said.
Kroger was not the only company to take action against Long Beach City Council.
The Golden State’s Grocers ‘Association has filed a lawsuit, claiming that the decision, like Kroger’s, would hamper the collective bargaining process between grocery stores and workers’ unions and that it would be detrimental to both grocers and consumers in the long run.
‘There is no way groceries can absorb such a cost increase without a fee elsewhere, as grocery stores work with it [razor-thin] margins and many stores are already working in the red, ”Ron Fong, CEO of the association, said in a statement to SFGate.
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Kroger’s spokesman also pointed out FOX Business at a recent Op-Ed of The Los Angeles Times Editorial Board, which hit local politicians for being certain frontline employees, some “essential” big box stores and even their own staff of their proposals for risk payment. , and said there was no “meaningful attempt to consider the consequences of requiring employers to increase their salaries by 30%.”
The solution to helping frontline workers, they say, is to require and enforce safer workplace conditions.