The California Grocers’ Association sued Oakland on Wednesday, just one day after the city council voted to require larger food vendors to give workers a $ 5-hour increase to compensate for the additional risks and stress of being on the front lines during the coronavirus. work. pandemic.
The trade group, which represents most grocery stores in California, wants the new law declared invalid and unconstitutional.
The lawsuit and related cases come from elsewhere as the premium payout premiums for supermarket workers grow during the pandemic.
The trade group also filed a lawsuit against Montebello (Los Angeles County) on Wednesday, which issued a similar ordinance a few days ago. The Grocers Association has filed a lawsuit against Long Beach (Los Angeles County), which in January became the first city in California to pay for supermarket workers.
Oakland City Council on Tuesday voted unanimously to demand payment at major supermarkets. The reason for this: grocery employees became essential workers during the pandemic and their indoor jobs involving extensive customer contact are now fraught with risk. The emergency measure took effect immediately.
The city council said the extra salary would affect about 2,000 workers, including 1,200 represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers Local. A spokesperson for the grocery store group said on Wednesday that the stores in question are already paying the premium in cities where it is now needed. .
According to the grocery complaint filed in the Northern District of California, the danger payment measure is illegal in two ways. First, the law asserts the provisions of the U.S. and California Constitution’s equal protection clauses, because it excludes certain groceries for divergent treatment and ignores other groups that employ essential front workers. Secondly, the complaint states that the National Labor Relations Act, which regulates collective bargaining, predicts the new measure.
The ordinance infringes on grocers’ “fundamental right to be free from unreasonable government interference with their contracts, specifically their collective bargaining agreements and other service agreements,” the lawsuit states.
The Oakland lawsuit seeks a court order to stop the application of the new law. The similar lawsuit of the grocery store against Long Beach tried to pass a temporary restriction. The case now calls for a preliminary injunction in Long Beach. The first hearing in the Long Beach case is Feb. 19.
The grocery store group said the lawsuit does not seek a refund of the premiums, but that individual stores may decide to go after the cities for the money.
“This is exactly the same case that was filed in Long Beach,” said Nikki Fortunato Bas, president of the Oakland Council. He was co-sponsor of the risk payment measure. “We believe that our emergency ordinance is legally sound and that it will apply. It is unfortunate that these large grocery companies, the largest in the country, are suing cities rather than sharing some of the incredible wealth they have built up during this pandemic with their frontline workers who are in such dire need. ”
The Oakland standard applies to stores with more than 15,000 square feet that sell primarily food and have more than 500 employees nationwide. The authors said they want to release mom-and-pop department stores, but should rather sweep into larger stores that increase their profits during the pandemic. It is supposed to take until California declares that Alameda County has reached the yellow level which means minimal virus risk.
“We feel confident that the city will triumph,” said Jim Araby, a spokesman for UFCW Local 5, which represents about 23,000 grocery workers in Northern California. ‘Our members worked through the pandemic, while grocery stores made record profits, and very few chose to share it with their employees. It is appreciation for their work and the risks they take. ”
The grocery group said they agreed that supermarket workers were ‘frontline heroes’, but that stores had already made a major effort to improve in-store security.
“Firefighters, police officers, health workers, as well as transportation, sanitation and restaurant workers are essential, yet grocery is the only business aimed at additional mandates,” Ron Fong, chief executive of the California Grocers Association, said in a statement. “These regulations do not make workers safer.”
Meanwhile, more risk compensation ordinances are moving.
On Tuesday, the San Jose City Council and the Los Angeles City Council voted to ask their city attorneys to draft grocery ordinances. The councils want to vote on it soon. San Jose would add $ 3 per hour, while Los Angeles would add $ 5 per hour. Both target larger stores. Several union representatives have considered several other cities in the Bay Area, including Berkeley, Concord and Antioch.
Carolyn Said is a staff writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @csaid