The grocery industry is suing a handful of West Coast towns for recently passed local measures requiring major supermarket chains to pay front-line workers more money for public toil amid a deadly pandemic.
The legal battle comes because some municipalities have tried to intervene after the ‘risk payment’ was dropped for many grocery workers, even when they continue to run risks at work. At least 134 grocery workers have died from COVID-19, and more than 28,700 have been exposed to a positive cause, according to the United Food and Commercial Workers union.
Seattle’s new law requiring a $ 4 per hour increase for employees of major supermarket chains has brought the Northwest Grocery Association and the Washington Food Industry Association to court. Federal lawsuits filed this week say the ordinance disrupts collective bargaining between supermarket chains and unions and singles out major corporations, according to The Seattle Times.
“Unfortunately, the council’s unprecedented regulation, unilateral action and reluctance to cooperate with the grocery industry have left us no option but to file a lawsuit against the city,” said Tammie Hetrick, president and CEO of WFIA. in a statement. regarding the law passed last week and entered into force on Wednesday. The regulation applies to grocers with a total of more than 500 employees and will remain in force as long as the public health crisis continues.
Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes spokesman Dan Nolte said, “We will absolutely defend the city’s right to see essential grocery workers get the risk compensation they so rightly deserve.”
Similar battles are also taking place in California, where the California Grocers Association is also legally active.
The statewide trade group has filed federal lawsuits against the cities of Oakland and Montebello after both approved ordinances mandate an additional $ 5 an hour for workers at major supermarket chains. It’s also challenging a $ 4 an hour pay rise for employees of major supermarket chains in Long Beach, California, and a threat to action against Los Angeles as the country also moves forward with its own risk payment regulation.
Trader Joe’s responded to recent events through temporary pay rise with $ 4 an hour for its employees across the country, but canceling the traditional mid-year increases.
Kroger adopted a different and even more controversial tactic and said he did closes two stores in Long Beach after that, that city passed a $ 4 an hour wage increase for employees of major supermarket chains. Kroger, the country’s largest supermarket company, also warned more closures could be coming.
Research has shown that front-line workers at work have a higher risk of exposure to the coronavirus. Such workers are also more likely to be black, Hispanic, or Native American populations that have had higher COVID-19 rates.
—The Associated Press contributed to this report.