Hazard pay for grocery workers? Fresno City Councilmember unveils plan for it
Fresno City Council President Luis Chavez will propose at the next council meeting an ordinance requiring grocery stores to pay workers hazard pay for the coronavirus pandemic, a move that was met with lawsuits in other cities around the state.
The proposal calls for grocers to pay workers $3 more per hour for 120 days and includes protections from retaliation for workers. The proposal was discussed at the March 4 council meeting and is likely to come up for a vote March 18.
“If a company is raking in record-dollar amounts in profits, they should share those profits with its employees,” Chavez said. “If you don’t have employees who are willing to show up and expose themselves to getting infected, they wouldn’t be able to sustain their business model.”
The California Grocers Association filed lawsuits against five other California cities after those cities passed similar measures. The Association argued in its lawsuits that the legislation is illegal because it only targets grocers, rather than other services deemed “essential” in the pandemic, and the city ordinances violate collective bargaining agreements with unions.
Ron Fong, president and CEO of the California Grocers Association, said the ordinances have unintended consequences, such as an increase in prices for consumers or even forcing stores to close.
“We think it is unprecedented and untimely for city councils to mandate raises for grocery workers,” he said in an interview with The Bee. “Doing so just really causes these negative consequences that they have not thought through.”
Some Fresno grocery store workers, such as union-represented Save Mart workers and Trader Joe’s employees, already receive hazard pay. Others don’t.
Grocery store workers who spoke to The Bee said Chavez’s proposal is needed, especially for those workers who are not union protected.
“It’s not over,” one Fresno WinCo employee said about the pandemic.
Hazard pay proposal
The Bee obtained an exclusive draft of Chavez’s proposal before it became public this week.
The proposal calls for $3 per hour hazard pay on top of an employee’s base hourly wage. The hazard pay rate Chavez is proposing is lower than the rate in cities such as Long Beach and Oakland, where governments imposed a $4 or $5 rate. The hazard pay would be in effect for 120 days after the ordinance passes.
If employers already are paying hazard pay, they must increase it to reach the $3.
The proposal would apply to retailers over 15,000 square feet in size or those where at least 10% of merchandise on the sales floor is dedicated to nontaxable items such as food items. Chavez estimates the ordinance will apply to around 65 stores in the city limits.
Chavez also included in the proposed ordinance protections for workers from retaliatory actions by employers.
“It shall be unlawful for a covered employer or any other party to discriminate in any manner or take action against any covered employee in retaliation for exercising rights protected under this ordinance,” the proposal reads. That includes cutting pay or hours.
Violations of the ordinance are a misdemeanor; penalties can include up to one year of incarceration and/or a fine of $1,000. There’s also an option for a civil fine of up to $10,000 per violation.
Grocery employee experiences
Eugene Mitchell has worked at a WinCo for 13 years and said he’s never seen anything like shoppers’ behaviors and attitudes brought on by the pandemic.
Right before the first wave of shutdowns in March last year, shoppers stole food, pushing their shopping carts through emergency exits. Shoppers “snatched” items away from each other. Tensions were high. Shelves were empty, leaving no essential supplies for the essential workers who staffed the store.
“I was there, front and center. It was just shocking,” said Mitchell, a grocery clerk. “It was ‘unprecedented times,’ as they say.”
Many employees worked overtime, often working double shifts, he said. Mitchell, on the other hand, chose to work a couple hours overtime at a time.
“I didn’t want to bring that home to my family, so I was doing my due diligence,” Mitchell said. “At the same time, being essential, I was working. But I wanted to make sure I was home with my family to to take care of them and keep them safe, too.”
Health officials still were learning about the coronavirus, a fairly new disease at the time, and how to best manage it.
Then came the sanitizing, the mask mandates and the customers who complained or refused to wear them.
A number of Mitchell’s coworkers became sick with COVID-19, he said. In the last year, he estimated about 60 new employees came and went from the store.
At first, WinCo paid employees extra for their work. The check was similar to a quarterly bonus, Mitchell said. But the extra pay since ended.
“For some, it didn’t sit well,” Mitchell said about the end of the extra pay. “People started getting tired and overwhelmed, taking time off, personal leaves or unemployment. With the loss of childcare and schools closing, it wasn’t enough. We now needed to protect our families.
“Why are you just going to pay me for my regular duties when what I’m doing is above and beyond my regular duty,” Mitchell’s coworkers wondered, he said. “They said, ‘I’ll just stay home and get unemployment to protect my family.’”
A Fresno Save Mart deli clerk said she has received $2.50 an hour on top of her regular pay for most of the pandemic. She credited the extra pay to her union representation by the United Food and Commercial Workers. The Bee agreed not to name her in this story since she feared retaliation.
“I would definitely consider myself an advocate for unionizing because of all the good things my job’s union accomplished for me, personally,” she said. “I serve fried chicken, and I get hazard pay and health benefits. If I didn’t have a union, I don’t think I would be getting it.”
Since last March, the deli clerk said her store enforced quarantines three or four times due to COVID-19 exposures.
Since the start of the pandemic, her job has become more difficult, she said, citing customers’ unwillingness to wear masks and practice social distancing.
“My health is at risk, my coworkers’ health is at risk and our families are at risk just by us working there,” she said. “People are really inconsiderate when it comes to wearing their mask.”
That’s why hazard pay is warranted, she said.
Her partner works at Trader Joe’s in northeast Fresno and also has received hazard pay, she said, but it’s uncertain how long the extra pay will continue.
The Kings Canyon corridor in Chavez’s southeast Fresno district includes at least 10 grocery stores, he said. The ZIP codes there have been COVID-19 hot spots.
“Part of the rationale for doing this was the fact that a lot of these workers really went through a difficult time period,” Chavez said. “The only regret I have is that I didn’t bring this sooner.”
‘Unintended consequences’ in other cities
Fong, the California Grocers Association CEO, said he would ask the Fresno City Council to pause on the hazard pay ordinance and instead focus on getting grocery store workers vaccinated. Earlier this week, the Fresno County Public Health Department opened up vaccine eligibility to food and agriculture workers, which includes grocery workers. The county also expects to see a higher number of doses allocated here.
Doing that, Fong said, would save money for everyone by preventing an expensive legal fight. The association would take a serious look at the proposed ordinance and wait to see if it passes before committing to litigation against Fresno, he said.
The Association represents 300 members and 6,000 stores statewide, such as Vons, Whole Foods, Smart & Final, Grocery Outlet and The Market, among others.
Fong pointed to a recent city of Los Angeles legislative analyst report that studied the economic impact of paying grocery workers hazard pay. He said the report highlighted a number of “unintended consequences.”
The report found that hazard pay could result in higher prices for consumers, delay store openings and raises for employees and even lead to store closures, particularly for smaller, independent grocers already struggling.
The county of Los Angeles, however, approved “hero pay” this week with similar extra-pay conditions.
After Long Beach passed a similar ordinance, Kroger, the parent company of Ralphs and Food 4 Less, announced it was permanently closing two stores located there. Kroger also closed two stores in Seattle in response to a hazard pay requirement, the report said.
Jacques Loveall, President of UFCW 8-Golden State, didn’t necessarily express support or opposition for the proposal. In a statement to The Bee, he highlighted UFCW members’ heightened risk during the pandemic.
The union represents more than 35,000 workers in supermarkets, drugs stores and other industries from the Oregon border to Bakersfield, including employees who work for Bel Air, Foods Co, Lucky, Nob Hill, Raley’s, Rite Aid, Safeway/Vons and Save Mart.
“Essential workers are critical to the functioning of our society,” Loveall said. “Our members are justifiably scared and the fact they keep showing up to do their jobs in spite of their fears is testament to their courage. They are heroes.
“Our members are among the most susceptible to COVID-19 infection because of their close interactions with the public and coworkers,” he said. “Across the country, our union members had many infections and a tragic number of deaths.”
Councilmember positions
While most other Fresno City Councilmembers had not yet seen the proposal, some said they generally agree that essential workers should get hazard pay, including Councilmembers Miguel Arias, Nelson Esparza and Tyler Maxwell.
“I have been disgusted by the corporations that are closing grocery stores in other communities across California that have mandated hazard pay, especially during a time where they are seeing record sales” said Esparza, who represents District 7 in central Fresno. “Corporate greed is real, and that’s something we have to be cautious about as we proceed with legislation.”
On the other hand, Councilmember Garry Bredefeld, who is the lone Republican and represents northeast Fresno, said he opposed the proposal, echoing similar arguments as the California Grocers Association.
“The proposal is flawed for many reasons,” he said. “First, it’s not legal. It focuses only on grocery workers but ignores all other front-line workers which is arbitrary and discriminatory. Second, government rightfully has no authority dictating to any private business to pay its workers $3 for ‘hazardous pay.’ Why not $8, $30 or $300? Lastly, we’re a constitutional republic, not a dictatorship, although politicians on every level in this state get very confused.”
Chavez noted his past record, saying he has being pro business and diplomatic.
“If somebody categorizes me as authoritarian, so be it,” he said. “At the end of the day, it’s about people and taking care of people who actually do the work at the grocery store.”
This story was originally published February 26, 2021 at 5:00 AM.