San Francisco supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved an emergency ordinance to raise wages by $5 per hour for some grocery and pharmacy workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Mayor London Breed plans to sign the legislation next week, according to her press director, Andy Lynch, and the ordinance will go into effect three days afterward.
The extra pay requirement will apply to retail grocery stores and pharmacies, plus janitorial and security contractors whose employees work at those locations. Stores with less than 20 employees in San Francisco and 500 employees worldwide will be exempt. Employers can also negotiate a different pay structure through a collective bargaining agreement.
Employees who make under $35 per hour or $75,000 per year will qualify for the extra pay, which will last until the health emergency in the city is declared at an end.
"Our essential grocery workers are often paid minimum wage and are expected to take high risks by constant exposure to the public. While we have protocols in place to wear a mask, stay 6-feet apart, and stay home if you're sick, we know these protocols are not always followed by the public," said Board of Supervisors President Shamann Walton in a statement. "This emergency ordinance compensates grocery workers and drug store workers who have had heightened exposure throughout this pandemic by working to survive."
Other Bay Area cities have enacted a similar $5 hazard pay increase for grocery store workers, including Oakland, San Mateo, Daly City, South San Francisco, Santa Clara, San Leandro and Berkeley. The California Grocers Association, an industry group, has fought some of these mandatory raises in court, last month filing separate lawsuits against Oakland and San Leandro, alleging the mandated hazard pay raises are unlawful.
Nate Rose, senior director of communications for the association, said it evaluates whether to take legal action on a case-by-case basis, and he declined to say whether it will sue over San Francisco's ordinance. The group contends the wage hikes could result in lost jobs, fewer hours for workers and higher food prices.
Rose said the grocers association has so far obtained one injunction against the required extra pay, in Long Beach. Stores in other cities are paying the extra salary while the cases are heard.
On Wednesday, the Kroger's supermarket chain said it would close three stores in Los Angeles because of the pay requirement. Kroger's has also announced store closures in Seattle and Long Beach, attributing the shutdowns to the cities' COVID pay ordinances.
“It’s never our desire to close a store, but when you factor in the increased costs of operating during COVID-19, consistent financial losses at these locations and an extra pay mandate that will cost nearly $20 million over the next 120 days, it becomes impossible to operate these three stores,” Kroger's said in a statement.
The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union asserts that 139 grocery workers have died from COVID.
—Jon Brooks and Bay City News