Posted on 02/01/2021 9:58:00 PM PST by BenLurkin
Kroger, the parent company of Ralphs and Food 4 Less, will soon shut down two of its stores in Long Beach in response to the city imposing a “hero pay” increase of $4 per hour for some grocery store workers.
In announcing the closure, Kroger cited a recently passed Long Beach City Council ordinance that mandated the hazard pay bump for at least 120 days amid the increased health risk to workers during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The new law affects grocery stores with at least 300 employees nationwide or more than 15 employees per market in the city.
Kroger, which issued a $2 pay boost at the start of the pandemic, noted that it has already spent about $1.3 billion to reward associates and implement dozens of coronavirus-related safety measures since March, when the virus’ spread began accelerating in the U.S. That’s on top of other additional benefits offered to employees during the pandemic, including paid emergency leave, the company said.
The California Grocers Association, which represents more than 300 retailers and opposes the ordinance, issued its own response to Kroger’s decision, saying it had previously warned that the new law could result in store closures.
“This is truly unfortunate for the Long Beach community, its grocery workers and consumers, but not surprising given the magnitude of the Council’s actions,” Ron Fong, the group’s president and CEO, said in the statement Monday. “We repeatedly warned that a $4/hour increase would have major unintended consequences – including potential store closures, the reduction of work for employees, and higher grocery costs for customers.”
(Excerpt) Read more at ktla.com ...
From “hero” to zero with the swipe of a pen.
Sad.
If the city truly has the legal authority to order stores to pay $4.00 more, then something needs to done to put an end that authority.
Fight 4 $15.00! Yeah, that’s a reel good idear!
And yet another example of the “Law of unintended consequences”
Good. Since when does an entity—the government—which has no role in ownership, stewardship, and management get to dictate fiat rules? Private property is just that—private. A city is privileged to have a business paying taxes—not visa versa. This is just the beginning.
How bout a grocery store worker juke box hero?
This is what happens when government decrees a pay increase.
Brilliant! The masters of the universe solve another problem.
CA’s minimum wage is currently $14. The Long Beach supplement would have boosted it to $18.
My understanding is that the new law also required the supermarkets to supply capes and leotards to all of their employees. Even the employees were upset that they would be required to wear the attire while performing “heroically” stocking shelves and checking out customers.
And then the same people who caused it will soon be whining about ‘food deserts’.
They are oh, so generous, with other people’s money.
Milton Friedman 4 types of money...
Most of our “government” is unconstitutional at all levels when you read the “governing documents”.
It already passed in the LA City Council. BUT there is a final motion’ WHEN it becomes effective in L.A area, hence the delay. It’s already confirmed good for ONLY 120 DAYS.
If someone in the town government thinks the workers should get a bonus, they can go shop at the store themselves and leave them tips out of their own personal money.
When the inevitable hyper-inflation hits, it won’t take long before $15/hr minimum wages, and $4/hr hero’s pay will seem a pittance.
Conservatives should fully support city rights. Democrats live mostly in cities. Cities should be granted unlimited powers of taxation and regulation, within city limits. It will lead to a mass exodus from high density, high government lifestyles to low density/government, like the migration from California to Texas on a smaller scale.
Building concrete and steel high rise apartments with elevators is now an obsolete technology in the age of high speed internet shopping, working, learning, entertainment, combined with politically supported viruses, riots, crime, illegals, mentally ill homeless, druggies. High density living breeds socialism.
From a natural point of view, big cities are a very recent invention that violent man does not have the genetics for. We are not insects, but descendants of winning warriors motivated by vanity and envy. We cannot silo humans 20 floors high and expect happy results.
Big cities developed to supply high labor factories with workers. These types of factories no longer exist outside of communist destroyed economies.
You can’t fix Stupid.
And when Texas becomes a carbon copy of California, where is there left to go?. No, the answer is to resist the calfornication of society. Turn the tide toward californication...
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