Grocery store workers to get $3/hour pay raise

City joins more than a dozen in state moving forward on hazard compensation ordinances

Thousands of San Jose grocery store workers soon will receive a $3-an-hour boost on their paychecks as San Jose became the latest city to pass a new ordinance compelling large grocers to offer their employees hazard pay for their high risk of catching COVID-19 at work.

The San Jose City Council voted 7-3 Feb. 9 for a new ordinance temporarily requiring corporate grocery stores, chain supermarkets and retail stores that sell groceries and employ at least 300 people nationwide to pay workers an additional $3 an hour on top of their regular wages. The ordinance will last for 120 days after it goes into effect. Small businesses and franchises with fewer than 300 employees are exempt.

The ordinance failed to clear a requirement that it must be backed by at least eight members of the council to become effective immediately. Instead, the majority vote means that the new ordinance will be enacted in about two months.

Councilman Sergio Jimenez, who crafted the ordinance, said he had hoped that it would have garnered more support but nonetheless was pleased that the city will provide relief to front-line grocery workers.

“I feel strongly that this is the right thing to do in my gut,” Jimenez said.

“And I’m hoping that in 120 days, the sky didn’t fall, stores didn’t close, the economy is looking up and these companies continue to do well.”

San Jose soon will join the cities of Oakland, Long

Beach, Santa Monica and Seattle, which all have passed similar ordinances in recent weeks to mandate increased wages for grocery store workers. Santa Clara County will vote later this month on a $5-an-hour boost on the paychecks of workers in grocery stores and fast-food restaurants everywhere in the county, except for San Jose.

San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo and Council members Dev Davis and Matt Mahan voted against the hazard pay legislation Feb. 9, citing an inadequate analysis of the possible financial effects, concerns over potential store closings and increased grocery prices and a disagreement over exactly which companies should be affected by the legislation.

Council member Pam Foley recused herself from the vote because she has stock in Amazon, the owner of Whole Foods, which would be affected by the ordinance.