Thousands of workers from unincorporated areas of Los Angeles who work in large supermarkets belonging to national grocery distribution chains would receive an additional “hero pay” of $ 5 per hour, thanks to the approval of a temporary ordinance presented by supervisors Hilda Solís and Holly Mitchell.
The ordinance would apply to the chains that are listed on the stock exchange and are located in more than a hundred of unincorporated cities and communities of Los Angeles County. The validity period would be for 120 days.
The next 26 the motion will be put to a vote and further asks for a response from the county attorney if such an emergency ordinance may also apply in incorporated areas of the county .
“The COVID pandemic – 19 has left in clear the importance of the industries considered essential, including the employees of supermarkets and drug sales ”, said Solís. “Since the beginning of the pandemic, these workers have continued to work despite the dangers of being exposed to COVID – 19 ”.
He added that, thanks to the work of front-line employees, families have been able to access the food and medicine they need during the pandemic.
“Although there is a light at the end of the tunnel, with the approval and administration of the vaccine, the health threats faced by these workers are as real as they were at the beginning of the pandemic due to to the increase of cases in our county ”, declared Solís. “It is imperative that we act urgently to support fair compensation by requiring their employers to provide ‘Hero Pay’.”
Among the companies that will be required to pay the $ 5 extra per hour workers include Walmart, Target and Amazon and those that have at least 300 employees nationwide or hire more than 10 employees per store.
Both Supervisor Solis and her counterpart Mitchell noted that several grocery corporations offered $ 2 to $ 4 hourly raises at the start of the pandemic, but that additional support expired in May.
“The extra payment is fair and necessary,” said Janeth Gallegos, manager of a 99 Cents.
Outside a Walmart store in the city of Rosemead, Shannon Silva, a homemaker, said: “Without the supermarket workers, nobody would have anywhere to go. to buy food and Yes, they deserve to be rewarded. ”
In the same way, Vera Alatorre, a Montebello resident, said:“ They are really exposing their life and they should be better paid. ”
The motion aims to help financially an unknown number of people who have been victims of the growing outbreak of the virus in supermarkets, coupled with the additional stress they suffer when they cannot constantly keep their distance from the crowds of clients.
“The truth is, those extra $ 5 will help me pay all the ‘bills’ ”, Irma De Avena, who works as price tagger, cashier and merchandise sorter at a Rite-Aide pharmacy, in the city of Altadena, told Real America News. “Every day we are more exposed to the contagion of COVID – 19, and I am really afraid.”
De Avena, 52 years old, originally from Jalisco, Mexico, indicated that , currently has an hourly wage of $ 17. 50, but it takes 32 years working in the same place.
“We work almost for pennies [centavos] so that others become millionaires,” he commented. “Since the pandemic began, we have never stopped working, and that five people have already been infected and two are out because they fell ill with COVID – 19″.
Large profits “These employers employ a workforce made up of low-wage workers who have been disproportionately affected by the economic consequences of this pandemic; Almost half have reported problems paying their bills and approximately one third have problems paying their rent or mortgage ”, the motion indicates.
The difficulties of the workers are opposed to the exorbitant profits of publicly traded retail companies.
Amazon and Walmart, the two largest companies in the country had combined profits of $ 10, 700 additional million in 2020 on the earnings of 2019, largely due to the pandemic, according to a December report from the Brookings Institution of Washington . Other chains included in the study were Lowe’s, Costco and Home Depot.
Profits from Amazon and Walmart represented an increase of 56%. Despite this increase in profits, Amazon and Walmart were ranked among the least generous to their employees of the 13 large grocery and retail companies studied in the report.
“All the people on the front line are earning too little and taking too much risk, while the owners of those companies and their CEOs earn millions and millions, ”Kathy Finn, secretary-treasurer of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 770 told Real America News.
Finn indicated that the 20, 000 union members working in retail stores, supermarkets and drug sales will benefit from the period of 120 days of implementation of the ordinance.