Crenshaw District, Los Angeles–When you pass through the Crenshaw district this week, you might be surprised to see that the red Ralphs logo that once decorated the building on Slauson and Crenshaw is now gone. Kroger abruptly announced the closure of several Ralphs locations in March and kept true to their closing date of May 15th.
“This is sad because I grew up in this neighborhood, right off 8th Ave & Hyde Park,” said Brandy, who was canvassing for signatures outside Ralphs for the Black Worker Center on Crenshaw, a few weeks before the closure.
“A lot of people are going to be losing a lot of local jobs unless they put something else here that is going to replace those jobs,” she continued.
In March, the Los Angeles City Council voted 14-1 to pass an emergency ordinance requiring large pharmacy and grocery store chains to provide their workers an additional $5 an hour.
Companies will have to pay hazard pay for all non-managerial employees at locations with 300 employees or more for 120 days. The ordinance is a move towards more fair compensation for those who have sustained large retail chains, while working for minimum wage, during a global pandemic.
“It is unfortunate that the store had to close, along with the other stores in L.A as well as Long Beach. This extra pay mandate put an extra layer of burden and expense on the store that we could no longer afford to operate sustainably. Instead of passing that on the customer, we had to close permanently,” said Ralphs media contact John Votava.
Read Full Article: Kroger Closes Ralphs To Avoid Paying Worker’s Heroes Pay
