A $4-an-hour pay bump lasting through the summer is expected for workers at larger grocery and drug stores in Irvine starting in late March.
The extra hazard, or “hero,” pay is a new mandate the Irvine City Council approved Tuesday, Feb. 23. It makes Irvine the first Orange County city to adopt a pay-boosting measure that cities including Long Beach, Los Angeles, Montebello, West Hollywood and several Bay Area communities have also put in place.
Buena Park city leaders also approved a temporary hike of $4 an hour on Tuesday, but the council must take a second procedural vote before it would it would go into effect.
Supporters of the pay boosts say grocery and pharmacy workers deserve to be compensated for continuing to show up to work and serve the public during the coronavirus pandemic, potentially putting their health or that of their families at risk.
“The Buena Park City Council and others are recognizing the need for profitable grocery and drug employers to pay workers according to the risks,” UFCW Local 324 President Andrea Zinder said in a statement Wednesday. “Our members have been working under enormous stress, exposed every single day they go into work to the virus.”
But opponents have argued that government shouldn’t dictate private sector pay, and they point to the announcements of store closures and lawsuits in cities that have approved the increases.
Long Beach, Montebello, West Hollywood and some other cities are being sued by the California Grocers Association, which argues the mandated pay increases violate state and federal law and will force companies to raise prices, cut worker hours or close stores.
In Irvine, two of the City Council’s five members have cited concerns about a lawsuit as a reason they don’t support the extra pay measure.
Irvine’s hazard pay measure is intended to cover larger, chain grocers and pharmacies while leaving out mom-and-pop businesses. It applies to shops that have at least 20 employees, are larger than 15,000 square feet or belong to a company with 500 or more workers in total. The measure doesn’t cover stores that already have pay premiums in place for their workers.
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