The food industry is suing a handful of West Coast cities for recently adopted local measures that require large supermarket chains to pay front-line workers more money to force the public into the middle of a mortal pandemic.
Legal battles are taking place as some municipalities have sought to intervene after the “payment risk” for many food workers has expired, even though continue to face risks at work. At least 134 food workers died from COVID-19 and more than 28,700 were exposed to a positive case, according to the United Food and Commercial Workers union.
The new Seattle law that imposes increases of $ 4 per hour for employees of large food chains has the Northwest Grocery Association and the Washington Food Industry Association fighting the city in court. Federal lawsuits filed this week claim that the ordinance disrupts collective bargaining between food chains and unions and selects large companies, according to The Seattle Times.
“Unfortunately, the council’s unprecedented ordinance, its unilateral action and unwillingness to work with the food industry left us with no choice but to sue the city,” said Tammie Hetrick, President and CEO of WFIA. , in a statement. on the law that passed last week and went into effect on Wednesday. The ordinance applies to grocers with more than 500 employees in general and remains in force as long as the public health crisis continues.
A spokesman for Seattle attorney Pete Holmes, Dan Nolte, said: “We will absolutely defend the city’s right to see the essential workers in the diet receive the distress premium they deserve so well.”
Similar struggles are taking place in California, where the California Grocers Association is legally active.
The national trade group has filed federal lawsuits against the cities of Oakland and Montebello, after both ordinances approved an additional $ 5 per hour for large food chain workers. It is also causing a $ 4 hourly wage increase for employees of major supermarket chains in Long Beach, California, and a threatening lawsuit against Los Angeles as it moves forward with its own wage ordinance.
Trader Joe responded to recent events by temporary increase in payment with $ 4 per hour for its workers nationwide, but canceling its traditional mid-year increases.
Kroger took a different and even more controversial tact, saying so closes two stores in Long Beach after that city passed a $ 4 hourly wage increase for employees of major supermarket chains. Kroger, the largest supermarket company in the country, also warned that more closures could come.
Research has found that front-line employees face a higher risk of coronavirus exposure at work. Such workers are also more likely to be black, Hispanic, or Native American, populations who have suffered higher rates of COVID-19.
—The Associated Press contributed to this report.