Hundreds of employees at supermarkets in Long Beach, California, could soon be out of work after Kroger announced it will close two stores permanently to prevent workers from paying at risk during the pandemic.
Under the Citywide Hazard Payments Ordinance, large grocers must pay their staff an extra $ 4 an hour for at least four months, as workers are at greater risk of being exposed to the virus.
“It’s a slap in the face when they don’t want to pay us what we earn by putting our lives on the front line,” said Clara Vega, general manager of one of the closing stores, a Food 4 Less supermarket. work so hard, we work so much overtime it’s ridiculous. “
Local officials and the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), which represents 1.3 million workers, condemned Kroger’s decision to close its stores rather than increase workers’ wages.
“Since the start of the pandemic, Kroger has made billions in profits through the sacrifices of grocery workers who risk their own health and safety every day,” Marc Perrone, president of UFCW International, said in a statement.
“Instead of paying the risk that these grocery workers have earned and earned, Kroger decided to threaten these workers and the community’s access to food in the midst of a public health crisis.”
Profit during the pandemic: According to Ron Herrera, president of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, the two stores that were to be closed saw sales increase of up to 31% since the start of the pandemic.
Herrera said Kroger has recently seen a 90% increase in profits and spent $ 1.4 billion on stock buybacks. CNN has reached out to Kroger for comment on its earnings.
Robert Gonzalez, a freezer clerk at Food 4 Less, said he was devastated when he learned that his store will close after working for Kroger for 26 years.
“After all the hard work I’ve done to feed the needy families and risk my life and that of my family at home, they don’t want to pay an extra $ 4 an hour for four short months,” Gonzalez said. “We also give donations every week to homeless and needy families and they want to take that away. That’s so wrong and bad.”
More possible closures: Earlier this week, the cities of Los Angeles, West Hollywood, San Jose, Berkeley, San Francisco, and Oakland passed similar regulations for paying hazards. Seattle supermarket employees who work for a company with more than 500 employees also saw an increase in the risk wage of $ 4 an hour as of Wednesday. Kroger told CNN it was also considering additional closures in several US cities.