Grocery company Kroger announced on Monday that it will close two of its stores in Long Beach – a Ralph’s location and a Food4Less store – in response to a city ordinance requiring a $ 4 salary increase for some employees.
“As a result of the City of Long Beach’s decision to pass a regulation requiring additional pay for grocery workers, we have made the difficult decision to permanently close the long-term retail locations in Long Beach,” said a statement The Company’s misguided actions by Long Beach City Council go beyond the traditional negotiation process and apply to some, but not all, grocery workers in the city.
“The irreparable harm that will befall workers and local citizens as a direct result of the City of Long Beach’s attempt to choose winners and losers is deeply unfortunate. actions of the city council. ”
Mayor Robert Garcia was a strong supporter of the ordinance. Before signing the measure, he wrote on Twitter that grocery workers have been “ at the forefront of this pandemic and deserve this support. ”
According to Kroger, the Ralphs store at 3380 N. Los Coyotes Diagonal and the Food4Less store at 2185 E. South St. will close on April 17.
Long Beach City Council last month first passed a law requiring large grocers to pay employees an additional $ 4 an hour in hero pay for their work during the COVID-19 pandemic. The law applies to businesses with 300 or more employees in general and more than 15 employees per location in Long Beach.
The actor, known for his role as “Screech” in “Saved by the Bell,” was diagnosed with cancer three weeks ago.
The California Grocers Association was one of the opponents of the regulation, saying it would do nothing to increase worker safety, but could result in higher costs to consumers.
According to Kroger, the company spent $ 1.3 billion “to reward employees as well as to implement dozens of security measures” during the pandemic.