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The Kroger Co., criticized locally for its planned announcement to close two stores in Long Beach after the city passed an ordinance mandating an extra $4 in hourly pay for grocery workers, is giving $100 to all employees who get the COVID-19 vaccine.
By City News Service Feb 3, 2021 LONG BEACH (CNS) - A group of workers at a Long Beach Food 4 Less store scheduled to be closed in response to the city's mandate that employees be paid an extra $4-an-hour in “hero pay'' rallied outside the market today, decrying the decision to shutter the store. “They want to shut the store down after all the hard work I've done to feed the needy families, and everything, and risk my life and my families' lives at home,'' worker Robert Gonzales said at a news conference attended by store employees, union leaders and Mayor Robert Garcia.
Food retailer operators worry that local pay mandates will result in more store closures and other consequences. The pandemic pay mandate issues keeps escalating, with federal lawsuits being filed against local governments passing such laws. The California Grocers Association (CGA) says it has filed federal lawsuits against the City of Oakland and City of Montebello — both in California — to challenge ordinances approved by them mandating an additional $5 per hour in extra pay for a select group of grocery store employees. Meanwhile, the Northwest Grocery Association ...
Planned Ralphs, Food 4 Less closings highlight issue of pandemic compensation for frontline grocery workers The Kroger Co. is closing two supermarkets in Long Beach, Calif., because of a new municipal law that mandates hazard pay to grocery workers amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Plans call for the Ralphs store at 3380 N. Los Coyotes Diagonal and the Food 4 Less store at 2185 E. South St. in Long Beach to close on April 17, the two Kroger divisions said yesterday. The chains said the two locations represent 25% of their Long Beach stores. The Long Beach ordinance (Ord-27), passed by the ci...
By Valerie Hernandez Feb 2, 2021 Kroger just announced that it will close down a Ralph's and a Food4Less location in Long Beach as a response to a city ordinance requiring a $4 "hero pay" salary boost. In a company statement, "As a result of the city of Long Beach's decision to pass an ordinance mandating extra pay for grocery workers, we have made the difficult decision to permanently close long-struggling store locations in Long Beach. This misguided action by the Long Beach City Council oversteps the traditional bargaining process and applies to some, but not all, grocery workers in the ...