'HERO PAY' FOR GROCERY WORKERS IS TERRIBLE FOR GROCERY WORKERS.

• Author: Britschgi, Christian
• Position: REGULATION

"HERO PAY" LAWS, which require big wage increases for grocery store workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, are sweeping the West Coast. Store closures, unemployment, and lawsuits have followed in their wake. The first of these laws, passed in late January by the Long Beach, California, City Council, mandated that grocery workers at large stores get a $4-an-hour pay raise for the duration of the pandemic. By early February, Kroger announced it was shutting down two stores in Long Beach.

The locations had already been underper-forming, the company said, but the new pay hike meant they were now unsustainable. It was the same story in Seattle and Los Angeles: In response to "hero pay" laws, Kroger said it would close three stores in each city.

Many independent stores that remain open say these policies have pushed them deep into the red. One analysis by Capitol Matrix Consulting (and commissioned by the California Grocers Association) found the laws have increased labor costs by an average of 30 percent.

Grocery store associations in California and Washington are suing every city that requires "hero pay." They argue that such mandates are preempted by federal labor law and violate the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause.

The grocery store unions that push these laws and the politicians who pass them scoff at store owners' arguments. Grocery store profits, they note, are way up during the pandemic. They argue that the store closures are merely an intimidation tactic.

...