Across the state of California several woke local government are passing “hero pay” ordinances that immediately force grocery stores to give pay hikes to employees.
In Long Beach, California they mandated a $4 an hour raise for workers at grocery chains that employ more than 300 workers nationally and at least 15 workers locally.
The result? Kroeger announces that they will be closing two stores.
“A Ralphs store and a Food 4 Less store in Long Beach, California, will close on April 17, the company said in a statement Monday....
The Cincinnati-based chain also said Long Beach was interfering with the traditional bargaining process.
“The irreparable harm that will come to employees and local citizens as a direct result of the city of Long Beach’s attempt to pick winners and losers is deeply unfortunate,” Kroger said.”
A company spokesman pointed out to the L.A. Times that it had already spent $1.3 billion throughout the pandemic on bonus pay to workers and on safety measures to protect employees. They also noted that last year, employees were given a $2 an hour pay raise.
This is an excellent case study of the likely results of Biden & the Democrats succeeding in getting a $15 an hour minimum wage.
As Brad Polumbo writes, this case should serve as a lesson to the left. He writes:
"Sweeping government price controls and labor market interventions will always have vast unintended consequences, no matter how noble the stated intentions are or how sympathetic the intended beneficiary may be. Indeed, unintended consequences are an inherent feature of big government programs..
Long Beach lawmakers may truly have hoped to help front-line workers by mandating higher “Hero Pay” under the law. But their naïve good intentions will mean little to the grocery store clerks left unemployed as a result."