Photo by FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images
Earlier this year, Long Beach mayor Robert Garcia and the Long Beach City Council set about instituting a new $4 per hour hero pay increase for essential grocery store workers. The citywide requirement meant that companies that employ over 300 grocery workers nationally, and more than fifteen 15 employees per grocery store in the City of Long Beach, must provide $4 more per hour, per employee, in “premium pay” for the next four months.
Almost immediately after the city ordinance passed on January 19, two North Long Beach grocery store locations announced that they would close: the Ralphs at Los Coyotes and Diagonal, and the Food 4 Less on South Street near Cherry Avenue. A spokesperson for Kroger the world’s largest grocery chain and owner of both Ralphs and Food 4 Less laid the blame at the feet of mayor Garcia and the city council, saying that “despite our efforts to overcome the financial challenges we were already faci
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Speakers during the press conference called on the national grocery giant to reverse its decision and keep stores open.
“It’s devastating,” said Robert Gonzalez who has worked for the company for 26 years, adding that the store has a history of feeding the elderly and homeless. “After all the work I’ve done to feed the needy families. This is so wrong and evil.”
On Monday, Kroger announced the closure of the South Street Food 4 Less and the Ralphs at the intersection of Los Coyotes Diagonal and Wardlow Road as a direct response to the city’s recently approved “hero pay” mandate, which requires larger grocers to pay employees an additional $4 per hour for 120 days. The company said the ordinance placed additional financial pressure on already struggling stores, which is forcing the April 17 closures.