Kroger closes two grocery stores in California because it refuses to give “hero pay” to workers

In the early days of the pandemic, people from all over the country flocked to grocery stores to stock up, fearing the worst. I remember rolling the cart at the local Ralph’s, east of Long Beach, California, and the store was seriously picked up. The corridor of paper products was like a ghost town and all the shoppers had thousands of meters of looks.

Everyone looked at each other seemingly thinking, “Do they have the virus?”

My heart sank as I reached the box aisle and saw the lady in a black mask face mask. There was a clear shield just installed between us.

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I remember thinking to myself, “All these workers are going to get sick. Some are going to die.” I can’t imagine the stress and anxiety these people felt on the front lines, especially during the early days of the pandemic. The worst part is that most had no choice. You can’t leave work in the middle of a pandemic and wait to find a new job.

They were all sitting ducks.

My experience at Ralph’s on Los Coyotes Boulevard inspired me to write a post on Upworthy raising the idea that we should have tip jars in our supermarkets. In this way, we can all thank employees for the extreme risk they take in order to feed our families.

Photo of Tod Perry

Eleven months later, my local Ralph’s is being shut down by its parent company, Kroger, for refusing to pay $ 4 an hour in “hero pay” imposed by the city. Long Beach, the second most populous city in Los Angeles County, is the first in America to give a mandatory increase to employees of its grocery stores who have risked it all for their jobs.

Kroger also closes a Lunch for Less in North Long Beach, a low-income neighborhood where discounted food is a necessity, especially in these times.

On January 19, the City Council unanimously approved the 120-day ordinance on the payment of heroes. It applies to store chains of 300 or more employees nationwide and with 15 employees per store in the city, devoting 70% or more of their business to the retail sale of food products.

The next day it was signed by Mayor Robert Garcia.

The ordinance comes at a time when grocery stores are making record profits due to the pandemic.

“Grocery workers go there every day and are at risk of being exposed to the virus,” said Long Beach Councilwoman Mary Zendejas. “Grocery companies are experiencing a boom in their industry, making profits, recording profits on the shoulders of their employees and not being willing to share them.”

Kroger said its sales rose 30 percent in March and rose more than 20 percent in April and May. It also reported a 92% increase in online sales during the first quarter of 2020.

The company provided a $ 2 per hour bonus to its employees at the start of the pandemic, but it was phased out.

“As a result of the City of Long Beach’s decision to pass an ordinance requiring additional pay for grocery workers, we have made the difficult decision to permanently close long-term store outlets in Long Beach,” a company spokesman said in a press release. “This wrong action by Long Beach City Council goes beyond the traditional bargaining process and applies to some, but not all, of the city’s grocery workers.”

What’s even more annoying is that stores are scheduled to close on April 17, 89 days after the 120-day period. Why not wait another month?

Garcia is committed to fighting Kroger closures because he believes he has a responsibility to compensate his workers for the additional danger they suffered while the company made record profits.

“You have a corporation that, according to the Brookings Institution, is doing twice what they normally do, eliminating the pandemic. And they do it from the backs of these workers,” Garcia said in a news conference at the local Food 4 Less which will close.

“I don’t think anyone who has bought, for the last six months to a year, can look into the eyes of one of these workers and tell them they don’t deserve a few dollars more per hour for the amazing work they’ve been doing. doing during this pandemic, “he continued.

The pandemic is a serious issue for Garcia who lost his mother and stepfather last year due to COVID-19. Governor Gavin Newsom has applauded his work for the deployment of vaccines in the city of 467,000 people and has been described as a “model for the state” by the New York Times.

Kroger is within his rights to close stores to avoid paying his employees a mandatory state bonus. But it is bloodless for the company to thank its employees – who were heroically attacked by the pandemic – endangering their jobs.

A Health and Safety report found that “grocery store workers who interact with customers may be five times more likely to hire COVID-19 than their colleagues who have no direct contact with customers.”

It was also found that 24% of grocery store employees experienced at least a mild anxiety associated with work.

“After all the work I’ve done to feed the needy families and despite risking my life and that of my family at home and not wanting to pay an extra $ 4 an hour for four months,” said Robert Gonzales, who works in the industry for 26 years and is currently working at Food 4 Less with the forecast to close.

“And then it’s over. What’s the reason? You’re going to hurt the elderly, the homeless. We donate every week to the homeless and needy families and they want to take them away,” he added.

“Ask the North Long Beach community to make a choice: jobs with dignity or food on the table. This is an unfair choice that the Kroger company is issuing to our community,” said Rex Richardson, deputy mayor of Long Beach.

Garcia says the city will fight Kroger in court, but it is unclear what the legal system can do to prevent a business from deciding to close its doors.

In the coming months, as the number of vaccines increases and the number of cases decreases, we will all leave behind the era of the pandemic. I hope to be able to grab my cart and walk into the local Ralph’s one day this summer and see them take away the protective shields between me and the token, as well as the stickers on the floor that say, “Keep a six foot feet away ”

But I’m really looking forward to seeing the smiles on the face of the painting because, for the first time in ages, they won’t be wearing masks. I’ll tell them, “Thank you, we couldn’t have done it without you.” Hopefully Kroger will come to the same reality as well.