Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code by adding Chapter 5.91, relating to grocery workers in Long Beach, and establishing labor standards requirements for premium pay for grocery workers working in Long Beach; declaring the urgency thereof; and declaring that this ordinance shall take effect immediately, read and adopted as read. (Citywide) (Emergency Ordinance No. ORD-21-0004)
Thank you. And now we're going to be doing item number. 27. Item 27 is communication from City Attorney. Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code. Establishing premium pay for grocery workers. Read the first time and laid over to the next regular meeting of the City Council for final reading, declaring the urgency thereof and declaring that this ordinance shall take effect immediately. City y. Okay. We're going to go out and go to public comment. I'm not sure of any objection to that. First, to get through that. Madam Clerk, please keep up a comment. Our first speaker is Victor Sanchez. Council members. Honorable Mayor Garcia My name's Victor Sanchez, director of the Long Beach Coalition for Good Jobs in a Healthy Community. I urge you to vote in support of this item. Grocery workers are the unsung heroes of this pandemic and have been risking their lives and been on the front lines for months, providing a lifeline for our communities and keeping us fed. We owe them our strong support to ensure they are fairly compensated for the risks they have undertaken, as well as able to adequately provide for their families during this uncertain time. Long Beach is well within its power to take the recommended action tonight. It's an authority and a responsibility that is extremely urgent given the severity of this current surge in the virus. We vote in support of this item does not negate other workers from other sectors being able to benefit from similar action in the future. This has to be viewed as a first step in providing direct relief to frontline workers, not a last one. The rational basis for supporting this item is clear. Your support will help protect public health, support stable incomes, and promote job retention. At a critical time for the city to protect and support grocery workers is to protect and support all residents during this emergency. We commend your leadership, especially council members and the House, for bringing this forward in recognizing the challenges workers are facing at this moment. Long Beach was the first in proposing this kind of relief for grocery workers. Let's finish the job and get these workers the support they need. Thank you. Thank your next speakers. Anthony Campanella. Anthony Campanella. Our next speaker is Christine Boss. Hello. My name is Christine Banks and I serve as government affairs manager for the Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce. I'm speaking on behalf of our 678 members, representatives and community stakeholders. We're in opposition of this item and ask the Council to. Consider the. Following. Though well-intentioned, this ordinance has been rushed and inadequately studied. An economic impact. Survey has not taken place, so the Council would. Be creating policy without proper understanding of the impacts on our grocers, the workforce and our community. Furthermore, is our understanding that the grocers. Were not given a seat at the table when this ordinance was proposed. This item was placed as an emergency ordinance on the supplemental agenda. Friday before Council not once. But twice. This is not how policy should be created. We urge the City Council to pass. A vote on any wage increase ordinance that. Has the potential to create unintentional consequences and possible inequity. Across our city. Until an economic impact study is completed. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. Thank you. Your next speaker is Cody Walsh. Hi. My name was. I will give. People this in Long Beach. And on. The dairy court. And afterwards the night grew. And when you first read, you have to put in all these hours with the workload getting. Heavier and heavier with. Everybody in the palace and everything. And yeah, it's frustrating finally that I was at the cutting of the people at sanitizer school. So I'm afraid to, you know. Never to work at night without, you know. Catching the virus again. Yeah. Yeah. Right. But. Yeah. Oh, well. Pretty much. I'm sorry. Well. Thank you. Our next speaker is Christina Min here. Huh? Yes. Hello. I please begin. Okay. Oh. Hi. My name is Christine. I'm here. I work out food for less, and I'm an essential worker during this pandemic we're currently living through. I believe me and my coworkers. Deserve hazard. Pay. After almost a year of enduring these hard times where this violent, deadly virus is among us. We don't know who is carrying the virus. When? Just last week alone, my store had 18,927 customers. Many of those. Customers can be carrying the virus a lot of the time. Social distancing nor face masks are being enforced. How they should be. We are risking our health and our family's health when all the company is concerned. About is profit. Having a record year in sales throughout this time Hazard pays. Shouldn't be a question or a debate. This is something we deserve. From the start. I believe during this. Time it should be people over profit, not profits over people. I'd like to thank you for your time and. Appreciate the opportunity. To be heard. Thank you. Thank. Think your next speaker is Derrick Smith. Good evening. My name is Derek Smith. I'm the political director for S.W. 324. And on behalf of my union, I want to extend our appreciation to the mayor and each city council member for their support for restoring zero pay for grocery workers back in December, and particularly to council members in Dallas, Richardson and Ranga and the city staff for their hard work necessary to bring this to a final vote. Tonight. Up and down the state of California, city councils and Board of Supervisors are beginning the process of mandating hazard pay for grocery workers. I know 13 already. And many more are going to follow. The significance of this is enormous. It's given workers the opportunity to talk about conditions on the job and the necessity of restoring hazard pay. It's giving elected and community leaders a chance to express appreciation for the local clerks. And it's a clear message to the grocery industry that it's not enough to call the men and women who have spent the better part of the year keeping families fed heroes. You actually have to treat them like heroes tonight. My hope is that the city of Long Beach will do just that and that your action will be the catalyst for other cities across the country to follow suit. Thanks. Thank you. Your next speaker is Doreen Bonner. Good evening, honorable mayor and council members. My name is Doreen Bonner and I am a resident. Of District one. I first wish to thank you all for voting to bring this ordinance to the table in support of our great work here in the city. As a conscientious citizen. And former service industry worker, and furthermore urge you to finish the process and declare the ordinance immediately. This pandemic has devastated lives. Across our communities for nearly a year now, and many of our grocery workers have not only been exposed to or infected. With COVID 19, but have also. Dealt with many cases of people denying the reality of this pandemic and thus compounding the challenges they already endured. Considering that many grocery workers are black and brown people, this becomes an issue of racial equity as well, because they are already the most disproportionately affected groups by this pandemic. We are all relying on the bravery of our essential workers. And especially our grocery workers, to keep our fridges. Full and our families said. So please. Recognize the urgency of the situation and show. Them that we value them enough to make sure they can do the same for their own families by giving them the hero care they deserve. Thank you very much for your time. Think your next speaker is Elizabeth Leone. Hi. My name is Elizabeth Leon. I work at the facilities and. I am in Redondo. I have been at this store for about five years. I have work record for last for six years. I would like to start also by thanking the mayor and all of the council members for taking the time to listen to my concerns. And have our backs on. These very uncertain times. Take the last. Council meeting that. Took place in December. I spoke about the fear of getting COVID 19. On December 27 was the last day that I work due to COVID 19. I was out for three weeks. I was ill. I was stressed out. It was around the time that I needed to make a decision. I was told that I would get emergency COVID pay, and when I spoke to my boss, she said it was going to take a little time. I then took the time to think of what I was going to do, and I decided that I would not pay my rent. I would feed my kids. It took 19 days for food for us to pay the emergency pay. We are so overworked, exposed ourselves to thousands of people. The committee is essential, so nobody should ever have to choose between feeding their kids. Thank you. And having any. Your next speaker is Anthony Campanella. Yup. I'm Anthony. Please begin. Yeah. I worked for Ross for 43 years, lived in this city for 55. And I just wanted to say that. I've never gone to work in so much fear in my life and my coworkers all said the same. I'm their shop steward. It's it's just phenomenal how this company. Has decided that they do not consider us a risk factor. So I just wanted to really emphasize. How much this would mean to us if you reinstated our hazard pay. That's kind of it. That's all I wanted to say. Think your next speaker is Jan Michelle. Carl. My name is Tony Michelle and I'm a proud at Long Beach City resident and a Long Beach essential worker. I work for Gelson's. In Long Beach. I have been in this. Business for. 25 years. But these times are the scariest. And while granted, I am so incredibly grateful for my job. These are the scariest times for us. And at this point, we are all worked eight, ten, 12. 15 hours a day. Six days a week. I see my customers and my coworkers more than I see my own family. And at this point, we're all telling. Ourselves, just one more day. One more day. Are we going to make it one more day? Will we get it? Will we. Make it this one last day if we are making. Ourselves available to our communities? It's so critical for us to do this work and to keep our our people fed. And with every place being closed right. Now. People are eating breakfast. Lunch and dinner at home, which I'm here to tell you that these grocery jobs. Continue to be busier and busier, which means more. Hazardous by the day. My coworkers and I have been at this for the last. Thank you to our next speakers, Marcus Williams. Hello. Thank you, Mayor and Council, for allowing me to speak. My name is Marcus Williams. I've been working for Albertsons platforms for about 12 years. I'm a front end cashier. I'm also a father of four, and I caught COVID late November, which changed me from hugging and kissing my kids. I don't go anywhere. I go to work and go straight home every day. So. There's no mistake that. Okay, I got it from work. They come in contact with more people than the medical facilities right now. And we don't know if these people are taking precautions, you know, washing their hands and things of that nature. And in this pandemic, the grocery stores have never closed. They've been open through the whole pandemic. So business is booming. So I feel that every day somebody is dying. And literally one of our coworkers that caught the disease has actually passed away. And. In the last couple of months like. It's a numerous amount of people that are just catching the virus and there's no way that we can stop it. We don't know who's touching what in the stores, and it's impossible for them to sanitize everything in the store. So. I just want to say that life is priceless. And this $4, it is going to help. Thank you. Our next speaker is Mary Dong. Good evening, council members. Honorable Mayorga. S.M. is Mary Jung Am, a faith organizer with clergy only at United for Economic Justice, also known as crew. COVID Outbreaks Skyrocket at SoCal supermarkets in NBC News the other day reported that there were 146 outbreaks in supermarkets in December alone, in L.A. County, in Orange County. So, of course, you workers are at the front now facing the risk of being contracted with COVID daily to ensure all of our children, families and community members have food on the table. And so if we call them heroes, we need to show that with our actions, it is the right ethical theme for our city to ensure the grocery workers are fairly compensated for their dangerous work and. Sustainably take care of their families. And I believe that supporting social workers is supporting our whole city to survive and move forward in this health crisis. And as people of faith, we believe all labor contributing. To the building. Of community has dignity and worth. So vote in support of this item is a vote to support community health, community safety and community sustainability. This is the first step to provide. Direct relief from those workers. So I want to say thank you for the council's leadership, especially council members, and for moving this item forward. And I. Urge you to finish this. Job and provide support for our workers. Thank you. Thank you. Your next speaker speakers Terry Mulder. Terry Mander. Terri mander if you're there please and yourself by hitting star six. Gerrymander. Right. That concludes public comment for this item. Thank you. I'm going to go ahead and go back now to the city council. And let me just begin with, Councilman, is that that's. Thank you, man. I just huge, huge thank you to our city staff, especially our city attorney and his team for bringing this is doing this amazing work and bringing it back so quickly. It is absolutely a matter of urgency that we reestablish these benefits for our heroic grocery store workers during this incredibly difficult and dangerous time. They are doing essential work and are entitled to basic benefits so that they can provide for their families and have the financial security they need and deserve for working in a high risk environment. And as our frontline workers during this pandemic, I think we can all unite behind celebrating the work being done by the essential workers right now. And it's absolutely necessary that we take action to make sure that our workers are not only receiving our praises, but the essential benefits that that that represent the very least at these at these times. I know that during this time I views this industry is bringing in enormous profits, profits even to the point of 100% for last year in some cases. And and they're doing so on the shoulders of all of our grocery workers who are risking their lives every single day. This is why this was brought urgently, because we don't have time. There are some lives that are depending on this. And it's it's it's very hard and it's very emotional to hear all of the public comments, all of the workers that have spoken here today, and to know that they are risking their lives for us so that we all can have food on our tables. And so with that, I just hope that that my colleagues support this item and that we can vote on this item and make sure that we that we. That we really consider our heroes who are our frontline workers in our grocery stores. Thank you. Thank you. Councilman's in the house. Customary Ringo. Thank you. And I. Want to say that Councilmember Senate has some comments who are spot on. And they split. THOMPSON We ran. I think we lost two. Okay. Let me go. To out here for some reason. Okay. What I basically said was that I agree. With the. Comments made by governments and then. You would read it. They were spot on. And I'm going to. Give you. That. You hear. Richardson. Thanks, Mary Garcia. Just wanted to chime in and say, I think this is the right thing to do. I know that. And I want to acknowledge councilmembers and Bay has and Durango for their leadership on this issue. I know that these are unprecedented times. It's not the type of measure the lobby city council has done historically. There are some examples. I mean, we did support 50 miles an hour, you know, our voter supported measure. And there are some examples. But I think this is even this is different. Hero pay, we know, was established, you know, on the private side during the summertime. And it was certainly the right thing to do. But we're all sort of concerned about the greater economic condition of our economy and low wage workers. And we know that, again, it's a k-shaped recovery. People that make under $27,000 a year are showing that unemployment rates are increasing and they're having economic burdens and just trying to hold on. So I think that makes I think it makes sense. I don't think we need to change it. Change it. I think we need to stick with what's in front of us, adopt it, move forward, and also watch and see what the region, how the region responds to react. So no West Hollywood adopted hero just tonight. So so I'm happy to support this and I encourage and I wrote thank you. Q a Councilwoman Allen. Thank you, Mayor. I also want to thank the staff for getting back so quickly. This is an important ordinance. And I also want to thank Councilwoman Sun Hoss for her leadership on this. Some of the highest rates of COVID 19 transmission are seen in grocery store workers, and so many of the courses to our workers have already had COVID. And I just pray for everyone's safe recovery. These heroes don't have a choice to work from home, and largely they can't control the actions of members of the public that are in their personal space. They, like the gentleman said earlier, they just faced so much fear just to go to work. But they do it day after day to make sure that all of us get fed. I support them. I'm with them, and I think I'm all for their service to our community. Thank you. That concludes council comment. I'm going to make some comments just to wrap us up. I want to just start by thanking the city attorney team. I know in my conversations with him and the team, they worked really hard to get this out as soon as possible. And I just want to thank them. I know that it was it was really a really tight schedule for them. So I appreciate their work. And of course, to our our city team and really all the advocacy on this issue, I just want to just say that I, of course, absolutely have supported this initiative from from day one. These folks that are working at these at these markets and these these grocery stores are heroes. This is nothing new. They have received this type of additional pay in the past. And if they deserved it in the past, I deserve it. Today there are if you look do you think about all the essential workers that are out there? It is hard to name a group of folks that have as much contact with different individuals in that level of proximity that that these folks have. So it is unique. I mean, there's a lot of essential work, but this work is also very unique. And on top of that, unfortunately, a lot of these workers are harassed and they have to deal with folks who don't want to comply with the rules, and they're trying to protect themselves and their family. And they don't have the choice to not work or to work from home. These are these these folks make up the backbone and working class community of our city. And I'm really, really proud of them. They they are they are our neighbors. I, I there was a worker on here who said I believe she said she was from Gelson's and I was just there. Maybe a week or two ago I was doing some shopping and I actually had a chance to talk to some of the workers and workers who came up to me and words just honestly, they just they were so grateful and they just said, hey, thank you so much for this proposal. And you have no idea how much it means to us. And it's just great to know that there is there are folks that are watching out for us and understand how difficult these jobs are. And so, you know, just to the workers at Gelson's, that that I that I love so much and across the city and all the other great supermarkets where we are, we got your back and we're really proud of this tonight. And I especially want to thank Councilman's and De Haas who really led this this issue. And, you know, she continues just to be such a champion for working people. So congratulations to her and the whole council. And what that was a roll call vote. Councilwoman, City Councilwoman Ellen. I. Councilwoman Pryce, I councilman's opener. All right. Councilwoman Mango. I. Councilwoman Sara. I. Councilmember Oranga. I. Councilman Austin. Councilman Alston. I Vice Mayor Richardson. By. Motion carries. Thank you very much. Vice Mayor Richardson, I think you have the last couple of items here. Sure. Let's take a moment to so I can reset. So let's start off. Madam Clerk, I believe the final items we have are 17, 21, 24 and 28. Is that correct? 17, 20, 21. 24. And 28. Okay. So we're going to go in that order and and for the council, we're going to do voice motions. But the clerk has the Q for the order of of comments. So I'll recognize the motions. And then as we proceed through the debate, the clerk will cue to the next speaker. And that's how I will proceed, since I don't have access to the Q system. So we'll start with item 17 and I'll make the motion on that one. Let's hear item 17, please.