The Oakland City Council unanimously approved an emergency ordinance Tuesday that requires the pay raise to go into effect immediately.
Such stores in Oakland include Cardenas Markets, Safeway/Albertsons, Save Mart, Target, Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods, according to a city memo.
Many grocery stores bumped up workers’ pay in the early months of the pandemic but most stopped doing so after that.
Lucky Stores has continued paying hazard pay, and Trader Joe’s announced Monday it would boost its coronavirus-related “thank you” wage increases from $2 to $4 per hour above employees’ base pay.
“Extra pay mandates will have severe unintended consequences on not only grocers, but on their workers and their customers,” said Ron Fong, president and CEO of the California Grocers Association,.
California Grocers Association sues Oakland and Montebello over ‘hero pay’ ordinance.
“We need to recognize the workers, support their health needs and make sure they have the compensation to continue,” he said. »