Long Beach [CA] Ralphs, Food 4 Less stores to close over $4 ‘hero pay’ boost for grocery workers

KTLA ^ | 02/01/2021 | Tracy Bloom

[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.”

[moovova]

“If the city truly has the legal authority....”

The city should just order the stores to stay open.

Buncha commies...I bet they’re thinking about it.

[napscoordinator]

What’s crazy is the store will lose 3 to 4 months of revenue. If they have 15 employees, they need to sell an additional 15 items at 4 dollars an hour. How damn hard is that? Not at all. I think there is an old saying, “cutting off your nose in-spite of your face.” Oh well.

[Mr. Jeeves]

Next step is for governments to disallow companies to close stores in defiance of “humanitarian” legislation.

[caprock]

Excellent synopsis!

[EVO X]

There could be several factors in play. There is nearby big box store competition. California decriminalized shoplifting so they might have that problem..

[chrisinoc]

I contacted my friend who lives and sells real estate in Long Beach and the surrounding areas. He thinks the stores are underperforming and Kroger is using this reason for closing these stores.

[minnesota_bound]

Another democrat politician costs several hundred more people their jobs. More losses to come.

[Deo volente]

Most of our “government” is unconstitutional at all levels when you read the “governing documents”.

Exactly. The framers were highly suspicious of large and powerful central government. Now we have precisely what they feared most, and it's getting larger and more powerful by the day. It was an incremental process over many decades and there may be no turning back from the disaster looming ahead. We can't wish away a $30 Trillion debt load on top of the many trillions of unfunded liabilities.