Kroger-owned grocery chain Quality Food Centers will close two stores in Seattle next month due in part to a new law requiring the front-line grocery employees who have continued to work during the Coronavirus pandemic.
Two QFC stores will close on April 24, a decision “accelerated by a new Seattle City Council mandate that requires some employers to provide additional pay to some, but not all, of the city’s top workers.” , QFC said Tuesday statement.
The decision sparked a reprimand from a board member, who unanimously passed the law ordering larger grocery chains to temporarily increase workers ’pay by $ 4 an hour.
“Supermarket workers have had to cover emergency shifts, take on additional responsibilities and are five times more likely to hire COVID,” Teresa Mosqueda, a Seattle City Council member, said in a statement. “These workers shouldn’t be pawns in a game of chess.”
The law, which went into effect last week, poses legal challenges for the Northwest Grocery Association and the Washington Food Industry Association. A similar legal battle is being fought in California, where the California Grocers Association is challenging risk payment ordinances in Oakland, Montebello and Long Beach.
Local union United Food and Commercial Workers called Kroger’s plan to close the two QFC stores “a transparent attempt to intimidate other local governments into passing ordinances that would provide risk pay to front-line grocery store workers.” “.
Taking another spot, Trader Joe’s responded to a barrage of ordinances from salary increase temporarily for $ 4 an hour for its workers across the country, but canceling their traditional mid-year hikes. Similarly, PCC Community Markets also extended the $ 4 per hour temporary pay rise to all of its nearly 1,500 employees at its 15 locations, beyond the eight Seattle stores affected by the mandate.
Kroger earlier this month said he would do the same closes a Ralphs and a Food 4 Less in Long Beach, California, after the city passed a risk payment ordinance that the grocery chain called “wrong.”
Decision to end “hero payment”
Kroger last spring ended what he called “pay the hero” a $ 2 per hour bonus that the company briefly offered to its more than 500,000 workers as of April 2020. Instead, the company went on to pay $ 130 million in bonuses, with workers on time full they received $ 400 and part-time workers received $ 200.
Kroger has made record gains during the pandemic, as more Americans have opted to stay home, increasing the sale of food and other groceries. The company posted more than $ 2.9 billion in operating profits during the third quarter of 2020, making an additional profit of $ 1.2 billion compared to a year ago.
Kroger redirects some of that money to investors, with the $ 1 billion repurchase announced in September. On Feb. 5, the company announced a $ 147 million dividend payment and said it expects to increase its dividend over time.