Kroger closes two California grocery stores because he refuses to give a “hero’s salary” to workers

In the early days of the pandemic, people from all over the country gathered at grocery stores to stock up, fearing the worst. I remember spinning my cart at my Ralph’s shop in the eastern part of Long Beach, California, and the store was taken seriously. The aisle of paper products was like a ghost town, and the buyers were all a thousand feet away.

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

My heart sank when I reached the hallway of the house and saw her in a mask with black gloves. There was a clear new shield installed between us.

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I remember thinking to myself, “All these workers are going to get sick. Some will die. ” I can’t imagine the stress and anxiety these front-line people felt, especially in the early days of the pandemic. The worst thing is that most of them had no choice. You can’t give up your job in the middle of a pandemic and hope to find a new job.

They were all ducks.

My experience at Ralph’s on Los Coyotes Boulevard inspired me to write an article published in Upworthy, which presents the idea that we should have type jars in our supermarkets. In this way, we can thank all employees for the extreme risk they take so that we can feed our families.

Photo by Tod Perry

Eleven months later, my hometown of Ralph’s is closed by its parent company, Kroger, for refusing to pay $ 4 an hour in the “hero pay” imposed by the city. Long Beach, the second most populous city in Los Angeles County, is the first in America to grant a mandatory increase to grocery store employees who risked everything for their jobs.

Kroger is also closing a Food for Less in North Long Beach, a low-income neighborhood where low-cost food is a necessity, especially in these times.

On January 19, the City Council unanimously approved the 120-day ordinance for the payment of heroes. It applies to chain stores with 300 or more employees nationwide and with 15 store employees in the city, who dedicate 70% or more of their food retail business.

It was signed into law the next day by Mayor Robert Garcia.

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

“Food workers go every day and risk their lives being exposed to the virus,” said Long Beach councilor Mary Zendejas. “Food companies are facing a boom in their industry, making profits, record profits, on the shoulders of their employees and not willing to share the profits with them.”

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

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

“Following the decision of the City of Long Beach to adopt an ordinance requiring additional payment for grocery workers, we have made the difficult decision to permanently close the outlets of stores in Long Beach,” said a company spokesman in a press release. “This wrong action by the Long Beach Local Council goes beyond the traditional negotiation process and applies to some, but not all, of the city’s food workers.”

What is even more annoying is the fact that the stores are scheduled to close on April 17, 89 days in the 120-day period. Why not just wait an extra month?

Garcia promises to fight Kroger closures because he believes he has a responsibility to compensate his workers for the additional danger they faced while the company made record profits.

“You have a corporation that, according to the Brookings Institute, doubles what they normally do, eliminates the pandemic. And they do it on the backs of these workers,” Garcia said in a statement. conference at Food 4 Less location to be closed.

“I don’t think anyone who has bought, in 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 extra dollars an hour for the incredible work they did during this pandemic. “, continued the.

The pandemic is a serious issue for Garcia, who lost both his mother and stepfather last year to COVID-19. His work to launch the vaccine in the city of 467,000 was applauded by Governor Gavin Newsom and named “model for the state” by The New York Times.

Kroger falls within its rights to close stores to avoid paying a state-imposed bonus to its employees. But he has no company blood to thank his employees – who heroically dragged her through 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 contract COVID-19 than their colleagues who do not have direct contact with customers.”

He also found that 24% of grocery store employees had at least some work-related anxiety.

“After all the hard work I’ve done to feed the needy families and anything and to risk my life and family life at home and they don’t want to pay an extra $ 4 an hour for four small months,” Robert said Gonzales has worked in the industry for 26 years and currently works at Food 4 Less.

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

“To 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 makes 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 stop a business from deciding to close its doors.

In the coming months, as the number of vaccinations increases and the number of cases decreases, we will all leave the pandemic era behind. I hope I can get my stroller and pull into my local Ralph one day this summer and see them take off the protective shields that stand between me and the lady, as well as the stickers on the floor that say “Keep a distance of six”

But most of all, I look forward to seeing the smiles on the lady’s faces, because, for the first time in their old age, they won’t be wearing masks. I will tell them, “Thank you, we would not have succeeded without you.” Let’s hope Kroger achieves the same.