Speaker 0: Thank you. Next up is item 35.
Speaker 1: I. Item 35. Is a communication from councilman's and day has councilmember Ranka and Vice Mayor Richardson. Recommendation. Recommendation to. Recommendation to request city attorney to drop an urgency ordinance to restore hero pay for frontline grocery workers at a rate of $4 per hour to sunset 120 days after the approval of the ordinance.
Speaker 0: Okay, Councilwoman. And down.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Mayor, and thank you to all my to my colleagues who helped me bring this item forward. Thank you for signing onto this very important item that we're discussing here today on this issue. Especially after when when we have had seven days average for new COVID cases in Lake County and above that 10,000 per day. And our regional I see you capacity has fallen below 2%. We are at a critical moment in this crisis when things are far more serious than at any other point this year. And we also know that some of the people most impacted by this pandemic are frontline workers. And among those that are most vulnerable right now are the grocery store workers. This is an item and an issue that is so important to me and to many of my residents in the first District. And it's so very important to me personally. I have had family members who have worked in the grocery stores and have tested positive for COVID. And after testing positive for COVID, they then brought it home to their family, their spouse, and affected the whole family. And the whole family struggled with COVID. And they're not far from being the only ones who have been impacted in this way from working at our grocery stores. This is something that I firmly believe in and in in the matter of equity, fairness. And it's a way that we as a city council can do a lot of good on behalf of our residents. In fact, the city of Los Angeles just moved forward with this very similar policy earlier today. So we even we're even lucky enough to have a bit of a road map from them on what the policy could look like. I'd like to just begin by. Though, by offering some brief clarifications as to what I'm hoping that this item will look like before we turn it over to discussion. First of all, I want to make it clear that this is priority for this is how these are paid to be available to all hourly paid members of stores and staff who are reporting to work during this this crisis, this pandemic. I know that there may be some concerns of enforcement, but one of the things is that I think that that we will this will be an ordinance that will be very similar to the I'm Sick leave ordinance that we brought forward a couple months ago during this year in the pandemic. Additionally, it is my hope that we can all incorporate specific language that prohibits any kind of retaliation against whistle blowers to report on companies who are not in compliance with this ordinance. And lastly, while this ordinance is set to sunset at 120 days after it's adopted, I would really like to see if staff could report back with options to potentially extend it if needed, especially because we are living in such uncertain times with this pandemic. And hopefully I'm hopeful that things will get better and that we won't we won't need this as much then as we do now. But I hope that all of my colleagues will support this and support our. Frontline workers who are risking their lives every single day to bring food to our tables. And thank you. And with that, and I also would like to see if we have public comment, maybe we can hear the public comment before we hear from council . That would be great. We appreciate it.
Speaker 0: I'm sure Councilman Richardson is the second. Are you are you okay with that, councilman?
Speaker 3: That was on you? Absolutely.
Speaker 0: Vice mayor. Sorry. Okay. Let me go ahead. Go to the public comment.
Speaker 5: Our first speaker is Derrick Smith.
Speaker 0: Hi. My name is Derek Smith and the political director for us. 324. Good evening, Mayor. City Council. On behalf of my union, I'd like to congratulate new council members Alan and Sorrow for both.
Speaker 3: We're very happy for you both.
Speaker 0: I wish to speak in support of council members and they are in motion. Our local represents 1200 grocery workers in Long Beach and 18,000 grocery workers regionally. Intuitively, we know.
Speaker 3: The big box grocery retail.
Speaker 0: Has profited greatly from the change in shopping habits due to COVID and thanks to a study done by the Brookings.
Speaker 3: Institute. That intuition has been confirmed.
Speaker 0: According to the report, 2020.
Speaker 3: Has resulted in record profits for large grocery, retail.
Speaker 0: Amazon Whole Foods 53% profit above 2019.
Speaker 3: Walmart 45%. Kroger, which owns Ralphs 90%.
Speaker 0: Albertsons Vons 153%. In the beginning of this pandemic, all of these chains gave wage increases in acknowledgment for the health risks that essential workers are being asked to shoulder. Amazon, Kroger.
Speaker 3: Albertsons, Target gave $2 an hour hero pay. And in each example, hero pay was phased out in May or June.
Speaker 0: So as COVID cases spiked in the summer and again in the fall, these companies refused to reinstate here. Okay. And instead they opted to give small one time bonuses or even gift cards for store credit. It's simply not enough. Calling grocery workers heroes or essential is not enough. Our members didn't ask to be heroes, and they surely.
Speaker 3: Aren't paid like heroes.
Speaker 0: We can no longer rely on the industry to do the right thing. Compelling the industry to pay worker.
Speaker 5: Think your next speaker is Donna via Gomez. None of you, Gomez.
Speaker 4: Good evening to the members of the Long Beach City Council. My name is Donna via Gomez and I am a 35 year employee of Bonds grocery store. I work in the city of Long Beach, and I'm here today to identify myself as an essential worker. The governor has reinstituted another stay at home order, but my fellow grocery workers do not get to stay home. We are all scared of contracting the current COVID 19 virus. But we serve. We serve because it is our honor to serve. This is our community, our family. We keep our community healthy and nourish with food and friendship. But we receive little, if any, reward for putting our lives on the line every day. Every contact with the public and our fellow employees put our lives at risk. We take all of the risk for little compensation for the company's profit growth. She workers is now the proverbial canary in the coal mine, waiting for an invisible enemy to take one of us. The grocery companies do not look out for their employees well-being. We have no cleaning staff disinfecting. We have no management overseeing the mess that Martha Warren. We have no one managing social distancing. We have no one monitoring cloud capacity. It appears to me that being an essential worker at bonds means that I am little more than slave labor and then expendable. We deserve to be paid hazard pay because we take all the risk. Thank you for listening, and I appreciate your help in this matter.
Speaker 5: Thank you. Your next speaker is Connor Collette.
Speaker 4: Can you hear me?
Speaker 5: Yes. Please begin.
Speaker 4: Hello? Okay. My. I'm. I'm Connor. And I wanted to call in on behalf of, like, the grocery workers and stuff. It's just like the last one made a point. We don't have extra crews. We don't have extra people to monitor the feed or the masks or anything like that. But all of that responsibility has been put on us as employees of Albertsons and Bonds and things like that. And we're not given extra time. We're not given extra money, we're not given easy, especially whenever we have so many employees like on the frontline, kind of support people that have that are that are either past the age of 5050 or they have like mental or physical disabilities. This is all of us having to work twice as hard during this time to keep up with new regulations, to keep up with everybody staying far enough apart, yet to call them to register. There's just so much extra work and we're not being compensated for that at all. And while if we were to contract the virus, which is highly likely because of what we do, if we were to contract the virus, yeah, we do that. Can we take time off? But what if what if the corona virus doesn't go away in two weeks? What happens to people? What if we have other financial concerns that we're not able to make up for it? We're not able to pay for because all we're getting is a base pay since we're out of six or so
Speaker 5: . Thank you. Your next speaker is Dorian Varner.
Speaker 3: Hello? Can you hear me?
Speaker 5: Yes. Please begin.
Speaker 3: Thank you. Good evening, honorable mayor and council members and congratulations to our newly elected. My name is Doreen Bonner. I am a resident of District one. As we all know, the COVID 19 pandemic has been ravaging our nation for more than nine months. And in that time, we have lost hundreds of thousands of people across the country, including hundreds in our own city, as our communities navigate their way through this crisis. One group of people has been consistently asked to show up on the front lines and the few places where many people are still legally allowed to congregate. And that's grocery store workers know in the beginning of the pandemic these people were given some hazard pay, as a previous commenter mentioned, which was an increase of about $2 an hour across most companies. However, in the time since, as we all know, this crucial boon has been rescinded that was once given to these workers and their families. And this is frankly nonsensical because the pandemic is now worse than it was during the initial lockdown period. And most of these grocery conglomerates, such as Kroger, Vons and Albertsons, have replaced it with bonuses that are dependent on hours worked, which is a solution that fails to give workers the financial leverage to take necessary time off if they are sick. Now, none of these options give workers the ability to properly provide for their families, while also accounting for the hazard of working during the worst global pandemic in 100 years. We must guarantee workers at these major store at least a $4 an hour rates for the next 120 days, especially considering that families rely heavily on grocery stores during the holiday season. It's time we start treating.
Speaker 5: I think your next speaker is Dr. Katie Dudley. Dr. Katie Dudley. Dr. Katie Dudley. If you're there, please remove yourself. Our next speaker, Dr. Katie Dudley.
Speaker 4: Yes. Hi. Good evening.
Speaker 2: My name is Katie Dudley.
Speaker 4: I'm a resident of the third district.
Speaker 2: And a professor at Cal State Long.
Speaker 4: Beach, where I specialize in labor within socially sustainable tourism.
Speaker 2: Destinations.
Speaker 4: I'm speaking tonight in support of Councilwoman Zendaya's item regarding hazard pay for frontline grocery workers. I'm going to start by talking about how the word sustainable has become a common phrase that talked about more as a marketing tool these days than been an attempt to truly achieve sustainability. I only bring this up because what's often left out of the equation, whether it be in my field of sustainability in the context of tourism destinations or in cities like Long Beach, striving to become a sustainable city are the people that actually sustain the area. The ones that keep coming to work so that we can have continued access to our supply of food and other items even during a pandemic. The people who are applauded and deemed essential yet had to make tougher decisions than you or I during this pandemic, and that have consequences not only to themselves and their immediate family, but to the community at large. These these decisions that they make include whether or not to ignore symptoms of an illness themselves, because under the current structure, they can't afford to miss even a single day of work. And although there is a vaccine that is being distributed as we speak, it does not automatically erase the health and financial burden.
Speaker 5: Thank. Think your next speaker is Elizabeth Leone. Elizabeth Leone.
Speaker 4: Good evening. My name is Elizabeth Leone. I have worked in the city of Long Beach for about five years. My life, as well as my coworkers life and anyone working in the grocery store. Our lives have changed. I am stressed out physically and mentally drained. I go to work every day. With the question in mind is today the day is the day. The day I get infected with COVID as the day of the day I give it to my kids. It's very stressful. Sorry. It's harder than I thought. The bottom line. They are profiting and they are making so much money and they say that they don't have enough money to pay. They do. They are making millions of dollars on us. And we're the ones that are there. They're at home and we are there. They're doing meetings on Zoom calls. But we're there and. I'm sorry. That's all I have.
Speaker 5: Thank your next speakers. Gil Kiyoko, Yokoyama. Jack Yokoyama?
Speaker 3: Yes. Please begin. Hi. Good evening, Mayor. And now the council man. My name is Reverend Gil Yokoyama. I serve as a minister for Long Beach Parish Church, the Japanese Buddhist community in West Long Beach. We have many Mexican and Filipino neighbors in this community. And for years, I have known some of them quite closely who were working at the nearby grocery stores that I regularly go to. I support Long Beach's front line grocery workers because we realized during a time like this, the grocery constitutes the most necessary foundation of a life that keeps our and our family's health intact. It's essential for us to recognize the causality within this community that affects our society with deep insight and also with clear foresight toward the next year. I recognize the impact of the health and well-being of these workers on the collective well-being of their residents of the city. So during this unprecedented way, harsh winter in our lifetime, I hope that the city we ask the residents can collectively support these workers. I thank you for listening.
Speaker 5: Thank you. Our next speaker is Jean Alfonzo.
Speaker 4: Yes. This is Jane. Afonso, can you hear me?
Speaker 5: Yes. Please begin.
Speaker 4: Okay. I'm here representing the South Coast Interfaith Council, which is located in Long Beach and prides itself on creating communities of compassion among people of different faiths, promoting mutual understanding, appreciation, cooperation. And part of our mission is to provide moral leadership and work for justice, which is what brings me here tonight. Long Beach has the opportunity to show its commitment to compassion and justice. And grocery workers have been on the front lines since the pandemic began. And it's only getting worse. I know we had a brutal speaker previously, but I know that empathy is can be traced back to an early Buddhist teachings. But instead of focusing just on empathy, which can drain you, as I see during this council meeting, the worries and the needs of Long Beach residents and workers is just as so difficult. And so I, I encourage you to take the practice of compassion, which is sharing not just not just with others, but or others, so that you're able to make a measured and good decision rather than just being drained by all the pain. And it's painful. I know my neighbor has a grocery worker, is struggling to pay for childcare for her child while he's on Zoom. And she may not be able to make rent and may not.
Speaker 5: Thank you. Your next speaker is Julie Buchanan. Julie Buchanan.
Speaker 4: Why this is truly Buchanan. I'm a second generation Long Beach native. I live in District four across the street from Fire Station 17, and I live, work and play in Long Beach. I am currently off from work from COVID. If anyone at my store, which is Vons unexamined, shows any sign of sickness automatically off for ten days without pay. I work at the self-checkout and there is no protection for us. There is no distance from the customers between me and them, and it's very disheartening. These companies are making huge profits and they're not paying us. We have no, no protections whatsoever. Hazard pay stopped in around June, and we're still wearing masks and we're still in danger and we're still in danger of being infected. And lastly, I'd like to say that I just got word that one of my coworkers who was over 20, your employee, passed away and he's not going home to his family.
Speaker 0: I don't think I told you what I did.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm fine. Thank you.
Speaker 5: Thank you. Your next speaker is Lucas Walter.
Speaker 3: Hello? Can you hear me? Yes. Please begin. All right. Thank you very much. First off, good evening to Mayor Garcia and council members and congratulations to our newly elected council members, Alan and Sara, and to Vice Mayor Richardson on your new appointment. My name is Lucas Walczak, and I'm the vice president of political affairs for the Long Beach Democrat. And I'm here to speak in support of reinstating heroes pay for. The pandemic has ravaged our community like so many others, and is exposed and brought into stark relief the systemic inequities within our economy. Too often we hear the term essential worker, and these days, without recognizing the inherent irony that those who are deemed most essential to the function of our society are too often overworked and underpaid. As we heard from earlier, these workers are at the end of the road. We have an obligation to have their back while they risk their health and safety and that of their family so that we can buy our 5000 bottles of wine and wait out this collective nightmare. We can no longer in good conscience continue to refer to our brothers and sisters on the lines as essential workers and not make them legit. I vehemently urge you to support this item. Thank you for.
Speaker 5: Thank you. Our next speaker is Patrick Swimmer.
Speaker 3: Hello there. Go say in council. Thank you for the time to speak tonight. My name is Patrick Swimmer and I'm a second district resident here urging the council to draft and pass this ordinance and reinstate heroes, pay the grocery workers immediately. The COVID crisis has had an incredible impact on all of our lives, but the impacts have not been evenly distributed. As we sit here in a virtual meeting with many of us having transitioned to near-total virtual work, we have been sheltered from the daily stress and turmoil of deciding whether to risk catching this virus or losing your job. But at the struggle of frontline, workers face every shift they're scheduled for. These are the folks who are already among the lowest paid in our economy and have allowed the rest of us to maintain our ability to access the food and essential care items we need. It is their work which has allowed a windfall of profits to befall the companies they work for. The statistics of which were staggering that we heard earlier that their work has remained as undervalued in their wages as ever. The choice these workers face should not be any one has to, especially for those with elderly and at risk family members. But in an economy where some sectors are facing unemployment of 30% increases since January is an impossible decision. They face $4 an hour will not necessarily make their choice easier, but we can at least show these essential workers that they are exactly that, that their work is being valued, and that those who allow these stores to not only survive but thrive this year are reaping the benefits of the economic boom they created. We hope we will stand with working families and reinstate heroes pay as soon as possible. Thank you very much for your time tonight.
Speaker 5: And your next speaker is Reverend Jean Claude.
Speaker 4: Reverend Gene. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And thank you, Mr. Mayor, and members of the council. I'm the Reverend Gene Gould, rector of St Luke's and Lucas Episcopal Church at Seventh and Atlantic. And I live in District two. I'm grateful to grocery workers in Long Beach who have continued to work despite hazardous conditions of working inside without safe ventilation, dealing in close proximity, often less than six feet, with customers who have ineffective face coverings or failed to keep face coverings over our noses and mouths, and who risk taking infection home to their families and friends. Thanks to these dedicated workers, I've been able to purchase food, cleaning supplies and whatever else I needed to maintain my life. In my congregation, members who work low wage jobs in grocery stores and other essential businesses have gotten sick with the novel coronavirus. But even those who've managed to escape infection live with constant stress because they know that their work situation puts them and their families at risk. Now is the time to renew a commitment to hazard pay for grocery store workers. In fact, now our infection rates.
Speaker 5: Think your next speaker is Rudy Meir Montes. Rudy Montes.
Speaker 3: Oh, yeah. Hi, guys. How you guys doing? I'm Rudy Miramar. I work at Gelson's Long Beach. I got COVID 19 back in May, which is pretty bad. I was out for three weeks. Very, very, very uncomfortable. My wife had to take three weeks off also and moved to her mother's, which is very, very convenient there. I got back half my store was already out. So we had. Half the store working 11 hours. That's crazy. We're so tired. We're tired. We're stressed. I was scared to get into it again, to bring it back to my family. It was very, very stressful for me. When you took away that group was pretty, pretty crushing blow to the gut. But. Yeah. I've been in this industry for 26 years. I mean, it's it's crazy. It's very, very crazy out there. Thank you, guys.
Speaker 5: Thank you. Your next speaker is Shamika Picco. Jimmy Pickle.
Speaker 4: Hello, my name? Yes, hello. My name is Shoemaker. I have worked for Vons for almost 20 years. So in this pandemic, I have not been able to stay at home because I am an essential worker. At the beginning, due to public pressure, we got appreciation and pay, but then the company phased it out as if the pandemic had gone away. Who cuts appreciation pay for their employees when? Sorry. They're making so much money and we don't see any of it. We can be investing in small businesses here in the city of Long Beach who are struggling to survive. While my company make record breaking profits. We've been fighting for our lives. We've been fighting. We're fighting now for dignity. They say we're essential, but most of us feel like we're expendable as they put profits over people. And let's not forget that a lot of us are not full time. We may be a one income household. So when the people that were not working was getting extra unemployment to stay at home, they were making more money than we were going to work, putting ourselves at risk. But yet we still went to work. I know there is a lot to consider here and even more. That wasn't said, but I do thank you for your time and consideration. There are more numbers of grocery store workers getting the virus.
Speaker 5: Thank you. Our next speaker is Terry Mander.
Speaker 4: Good evening, Mr. Mayor and council members. My name is Kerry Landau, and I've worked for Ralph's grocery company for 38 years. My current location is Ralph's at Marina Pacifica. My partner, Vanessa and I have lived in the East Village in Long Beach for the past eight years and resources workers on the front line working and exposing myself to COVID every day. I go to work scared every day, knowing I'm risking my health and possibly my life. I do everything I can to take care of myself and be socially responsible and not bring the virus home to my family. It would be nice if my employer felt the same as me. Ralphs ignores and cut corners on many safety guidelines. They read Not enforcing mask requirements, not proper sanitization of registration cards. The grocery companies are making money hand over fist and still cut corners. I'm tired of having my health and well-being unappreciated. Ralph tried to show their appreciation by loading $100 of pure points to our company, Ralph Card. Many of our members do not have company Ralph fought for. Not all of us benefited from it. It is far below what I feel we deserve. This only serves drought and it does not help bring money back into our local communities economy. We need your help. Thank you.
Speaker 5: Thank you. That concludes public comment for this item.
Speaker 1: Mr. MILLER. That concludes the public comment.
Speaker 0: Now we're going to go back to the council. We have Vice Mayor Richardson who took the second.
Speaker 3: Thank you, Mayor Garcia. So I certainly rise in support of this this item. We know that during the summer here will pay. You know, the workers demanded, the company provided it. And we hope that as we head into the winter and the holiday, that it will be provided universally to to front line workers, particularly now, since the numbers that we experienced today are higher than what they were during the last spike. But unfortunately, we we you know, I've been on a few picket lines and and workers have been fighting for this for for a while. And we were hoping to have gotten there. But but, you know, it hasn't happened. So I think it's certainly necessary. I want to, you know, bring to our attention that another city council in Los Angeles made a motion to do something similar just just earlier today and go to two $5. I think where where we are, a motion stands on its own integrity. And we we we certainly are supportive of $4 that four months zero pay. I hope that the companies come forward and do something voluntarily as well. One point that I want to raise up as a friendly is when we initiated worker protections for ICE in terms of sick leave during the summer, we carved out and protected small businesses. We have bodegas, you know, and small markets who do serve grocers. But I think the intent here is to protect is to, you know, sort of treat the large, publicly traded, sort of larger chain grocers very differently than the small, small businesses who are having a difficult time just keeping up with ease and things like that. And so we're sick leave. We pegged it at 500 employees nationally. I understand that Los Angeles just packed bear that 300 employees nationally. I think we should do the same thing in this case. I want to offer a friendly amendment to Councilwoman Zendaya's that we also include a provision to exempt grocers that are 300 employees or more nationally, well below sorry, lower than 300 employees and below nationally. So I want to I want to I certainly want to offer that. And I'll wait on the response for in a moment. The second thing I want to highlight is that there was a slide up a bit earlier, and I don't know if we can get it back up, but I asked for that slide to come up because it makes and it illustrates an interesting point and I'll describe until we'll see if it can come up, but I'll describe it. Here it is. It looks like it's coming up. So this slide really illustrates this was put forward by Dr. Side Steinmetz, who, you know, puts forward the Quarterly Economic Summit in partnership with Economic Forum. And. And what it showed was individuals making 27 to $60000 a year or individuals making 60,000 and up for the most part. We're almost back to where we were in terms of employment levels sort of at the beginning. Prior to that, we're almost back. But if you look at for low wage workers and low wage families, people living within the poverty line, this is this illustrates that their trend is heading in the wrong direction. And what that means is the economic impact of COVID is harder and is widening economic gaps on low wage workers. And so it will require some level of economic attention, inclusive economic policy, to make sure that frontline workers, low wage workers, are not left behind. Hourly workers are not left behind. As we as we move forward. And this this this just illustrates it. But if you were to look at other other indicators, economic indicators demonstrate the same. So I think we can take that now. And so the point here is that I think this makes sense. This should have been done already heading into the holidays. We should exempt low wage, small pilot, I mean, exempt the smaller grocers. And I think this sends a clear message that that these are the types of policies that we think should help with an inclusive recovery . And so I'll pause there and council members and they answer, you go with that framework.
Speaker 2: Thank you. Vice Mayor Richardson, thank you for that. I know that the intent of this ordinance is definitely not to include our mom and pop shops that are barely making it, and we don't want to put an extra burden on them. The this item is intended to help those that have a lot of employees and that have a lot of profit coming in. So this this makes sense to set up friendly. So thank you. I will.
Speaker 3: Thank you.
Speaker 0: Thank you. Next up, I have Councilmember Ringa.
Speaker 3: Thank you, Mary. And I want to thank Councilmembers and Richardson for their presentation of the motion. The chart that was up there is compelling. I think it tells the story that we tried to work through here. And I think the the the friendly that was offered is a good one. And they told me, support the motion. Thank you.
Speaker 0: Thank you. Councilwoman Price.
Speaker 2: Q Mr. Mayor. So I appreciate all the comments tonight. And I was wondering, I'm not sure if there's someone from staff that can that can share on this topic or maybe councilman said they have. But I do know that there was a hazard pay provision in place. Can someone maybe share with me why did that go away? And was it was it because it was temporary in nature to begin with? Thank you, Councilmember. I would like to see if staff has an answer with that. I think it was. That's the question I keep asking myself is why did it go away? It made so much sense. So maybe city staff had to another end for that.
Speaker 5: So this this is Tom. This is not something that was required by the city. This was, as I understand, a negotiation between the employees and their employer. So this was something they came to an agreement on and was instituted. We don't really have information on why it went away.
Speaker 2: Thank you. You for that. Thank you, Councilman Xavier. Yeah, I. I have to say that I think our grocery workers are the most vulnerable populations right now. And and because I feel necessary to say this, I don't mean to offend any other essential workers or first responders. I'm just really sticking to this item. So I hope really nobody mishear me on that. I'm not just talking about grocery workers right now, but they have a very, very difficult position and job function and requirement. And I know that I think about them with a lot of empathy every time I interact with them and see them . And and I'm a worker that's an essential worker who's been reporting to work every day since March. But I have protections in place that are grocery workers don't have there are space and space requirements and distance precautions and things that protect me as an example that they don't have. So I think if they received it in the past, certainly the COVID crisis and dangers and risks have not gone away. In fact, they're probably worse now. So the same logic that allowed them to have it in the in the first place certainly has not been eliminated. So I do support this item. The one thing that I wanted to ask council members in their houses about is I know that you had the sunset being 120 days after the ordinance is adopted. And I know you asked the city attorney to look at a possible language about an extension. You know, I think one of the things, if you're open to them also considering this is if if that the sunset could be tied somehow to the declaration of state of emergency in the city. And the reason I say that is they don't want it tied to the state, because as we mentioned last week, we may be in a situation where we're differently situated from L.A. County or other parts of the state. And we certainly don't want to be lumped in in terms of the state of emergency. Our situation may be better, hopefully, or it may be worse. But I think this the sunset on this, we might want to tie it to the declaration of a state of emergency. So for the period of time that we have a state of emergency declared in the city is when this additional pay would last until. And that to me, that makes sense because I know that we've talked about some of the other relief items that we've passed and we've set a sunset. We've had to reconvene and think about extensions. And that's always been very controversial each time. But I think if we if we tie it to the state of emergency, the assumption there is the safety impacts and the risk impacts are tied to the. And and not some arbitrary carrier that we pick. So I don't know if you're open to having the city attorney look at tying the sunset to the length of time that this is a state of emergency in the city of Long Beach. And also, if we're able to think about, you know, I don't know when these workers will be eligible for vaccines when those become available. But it's reasonable to assume that it'll be several months down the road. I don't know. And, you know, not to not to put anyone on the spot, but maybe the city attorney can report back next week on, you know, when would we expect social hour grocery workers to receive the vaccines in terms of our timeline? I know I didn't prepare anybody with that question ahead of time. So maybe the city attorney can explore that, too, because if it's if it's five or six months out, then we want to make sure that we have a sunset that's reasonable in terms of actually protecting the employees. So, Councilman Sunday House, I hope that you'd be open to those two things, tying the sunset to the state of emergency and also evaluating, you know, when when these individuals might be eligible to get some long term protection through a vaccine. Thank you very much, Councilwoman Price, for that. Those requests, I think that I absolutely understand your intent. BE It's one of the things that I was hoping for is to maybe bring it back in, you know, after the 120 days and maybe evaluated then and see if we can do that at that time. I know that right now, with things being as uncertain as they are with this pandemic, you know, I think that it might be best to just leave it as it is right now and ask staff to please bring it back. And when we bring it back, we can evaluate both. I think that would be make the most sense for me right now, but I thank you for that.
Speaker 0: Councilman Price, did you have anything else?
Speaker 2: But, Mr. Mayor.
Speaker 0: Council Councilwoman Allen.
Speaker 2: Okay. Sorry if I'm muted. Yes. Thank you, Councilwoman Zin de Haas. And I wish that we all could be a second on this agenda item because it's such an important issue. Some of the highest rates of transmission in our workforce are, as we know, are among the frontline and essential workers, and especially our grocery store workers. And I personally been out to the stores. I have met with many of the workers, and I understand their fears and I wholeheartedly support them, support them. And these folks, they don't have a choice to stay home and they largely can't control the actions or members of the public and their personal space. Even though we have a cap or control of how many people go in the grocery stores. These workers are in constant contact with the public and the burden of ensuring their personal safety is a stressor. We heard this and so many of the folks that talk today and it really spoke to me and it spoke to my heart and and I just I want to say, please be kind to these workers. They're under so much stress. So I think grocery store workers should have their hero pay reinstated for the risks that they undertake just to keep us fed. And to my friends that are working out there on the front line as a grocery store worker. I am with you. And I strongly support the reinstatement of the hero pay, which by my calculations is about $160 a week per employee, which would make a huge difference to these folks. And it's not an unreasonable burden.
Speaker 4: On the employers. Thanks.
Speaker 0: Thank you, Councilwoman. I think that concludes the council comment. I'm just going to just add before we go to a vote, I'm very supportive of this action today. Our grocery workers are on the front line. They're working hard. It's been an honor and a pleasure to know many of them that have been there working nonstop to ensure that folks across our city and around our country have access to food and to all the needs that they have that they have in need. I'm hero. I was happy when they were receiving hero pay earlier in the pandemic. They should be. They should be receiving it now as well. And so I'm very, very heartened to have seen this come forward. I want to thank Councilwoman and De Hauser for bringing this forward. And and I want to thank, most importantly, the grocery workers and really all those retail workers that are working in these stores for their amazing work. So thank you very much. And it looks like we actually have two other folks queued up on the council side that they saw right now. So let me get to them. Councilwoman Sorrow and then Councilman Mongo.
Speaker 2: Yes. Thank you so much. I want to thank Councilman Emmerson Day for bringing this agenda item forward with it and representing a district with the highest current rates. And we shared a district councilwoman Sunday. And I understand the risk that essential workers, especially grocery workers, take when they go to work and and the risk that they bring and bringing it home. You know, we recognize them as heroes during the very beginning of the pandemic. And they continue to be heroes working at the front line, as well as our many other essential workers. And in this case, I really think that we need to reinstate it. And I think they they continue to deserve to be treated as such, which is heroes. And so I support this recommendation to strike up an ordinance to restore the heroes pay. Thank you very much.
Speaker 0: And Councilwoman Mongo.
Speaker 2: Thank you. I'm very supportive of this, and I appreciate all of our grocery store workers. I just had an additional question based on the comment of one of the members of the public. Mr. MODICA Do we not have any additional suggestions for our grocery stores related to added protections that the checkers can have built in? I know some stores have chosen to put up additional barriers between checkers and those that are checking in and out. If there is some information you can provide on that and or what we as a city could do to better protect individuals who work in the grocery industry. I know on my side of town, I've been to several different stores that have that protection, but I don't think that it's consistent.
Speaker 5: Yes. So those protections are in the health order. They're pretty strict in terms of how they're supposed to operate. Plexiglas should be separating customers. They should have the ability to wash their hands every 30 minutes there. They are required to be provided a face mask and other things as is required or as needed to keep them safe and gloves and all those types of things. Some, you know, you might see a higher level at some stores than others. And if we do get complaints, if there is one that we know that is not doing those things, please let us know and we'll pay them a visit and make sure that they are abiding by the health order. So I think, you know, there's there's a lot of requirements for PPE. And then the you know, even with all of that, you still have workers who are in this environment, which requires a lot of interaction with a lot of people who are looking to buy groceries.
Speaker 2: Right. Even people stocking shelves and helping customers and all of those things. Well, I hope that we can continue to support any additional measures that are necessary to continue to keep people safe. Thank you.
Speaker 0: And Councilman's in D.C..
Speaker 2: Thank you. I just wanted to say thank you to all the grocery workers that are out there and those who are who were brave enough to speak. And it just compels me so much and breaks my heart to hear what they're going through. So I just want to thank in advance all of my colleagues for supporting on this item. And I know that together we can bring forward an item that will not only protect our most vulnerable frontline workers, but also saved lives. And that's the end game here. So thank you.
Speaker 0: Thank you. And with that, we will go ahead and go to a roll call vote.
Speaker 1: Councilwoman Sun has. I can swim in, Alan. I can't woman priced.
Speaker 2: And I.
Speaker 1: Handsome and super. Now I can swim in mango.
Speaker 2: Hi.
Speaker 1: Councilwoman. Sara. I Council member Oranga. Councilman Austin.
Speaker 3: All right.
Speaker 1: Vice Mayor Richardson. I mentioned Kay's.
Speaker 0: Thank you. We have two other items that are related to economic recovery. I want to get to those. I do have an item with Ford City Auditor Laura Dow, which we'll do right after those two items. So let's let's try to get to 33 and 26 as expeditiously as possible.
Recommendation to request City Attorney to draft an urgency ordinance for consideration at the next City Council meeting to restore “Hero Pay” hazard pay to front-line grocery workers at a rate of $4 per hour, to sunset 120 days after the approval of the ordinance.