Irvine grocery store workers might be getting greater job protections if a store gets new owners after city officials took steps to mandate job retention for grocery employees.
It’s a move hailed by the local grocer union and opposed by supermarket industry groups.
California state law already outlines protections for grocery store employees if they store they work at gets new owners — the new leadership is required to create a priority hiring list from the existing employees and keep them on for at least 90 days.
But that state law is only for grocery stores that are bigger than 15,000 square feet.
Irvine’s new local regulations would go beyond state law by looping in grocery stores that are less than 15,000 square feet but that also have more than 300 employees nationwide.
It’s being proposed by Councilmember Kathleen Treseder, who’s up for reelection this year.
She said that grocery stores are trending toward smaller footprints, and the increased local regulations would help protect the local workforce and keep them from getting fired or laid off if their store gets new owners.
During their meeting last week, Irvine City Council members voted 5-2 to approve the retention requirements in an initial vote. A second vote is still required at another meeting before the change can go into effect.
Councilmembers Mike Carroll and James Mai voted no, but didn’t offer any comments at the meeting about their opposition.
In a previous discussion about this topic, Mai said private businesses have a right to make their own hiring decisions and Carroll said he wasn’t supporting the change because it’s not an issue for city leaders.
The United Food and Commercial Workers Local 324, which represents grocery workers in Orange County, has strongly supported grocery store worker retention requirements, including efforts to strengthen the state retention laws.
Jose Perez, president of UFCW 324, said that retaining and rehiring knowledgeable grocery workers helps communities thrive.
“The Irvine grocery worker retention ordinance is critical to ensure that skilled and trained workers can continue to provide our communities with access to safe food, goods and medicine,” he said at the meeting.
“Workers should not have to worry about losing their job just because of the size of the store they work at.”
According to Councilmember Treseder’s most recent campaign contribution disclosure forms, she received $650 in contributions from the UFCW Local 324 PAC.
The action comes just after 15 employees were fired from a Mother’s Market store in Costa Mesa in late August during calls to unionize workers.
Andrew Hausermann, organizing director for UFCW, said there’s another Mother’s Market store in Irvine that might see new ownership soon.
“Because the Irvine Mother’s Market store is smaller than 15,000 square feet, [the employees] wouldn’t be protected by the existing state law,” Hausermann said. “We now know that the private equity company that owns Mother’s Market is attempting to sell the 12 stores as we speak, so there’s an urgency to pass this protection.”
Tim James, spokesperson for the California Grocer Association, spoke at the meeting over Zoom to oppose the change.
“This council has built a myth that only certain employees have the ability or aptitude to implement proper food safety practices, which is absurd,” he said.
“We ask you to not pass this policy, refrain from using false and inaccurate reasoning and urge you to not unnecessarily regulate brick and mortar grocers.”
Councilmember Betty Martinez Franco, who’s also up for reelection this year, pointed to the Mother’s Market controversy as reasoning why greater local protections are necessary.
“We found out that after we started this conversation some workers at Mother’s Market got fired just for speaking up,” she said at the meeting. “This is why it’s important to come and continue this movement [and] continue fighting for these workers.”
Councilmember Melinda Liu, who’s also running a reelection campaign, also supported the change, adding that multiple grocery workers showed up to the meeting to ask for these protections.
“This is definitely not a manufactured concern, as we can see that there are actual workers sitting here trying to advocate for their rights,” she said.
“If there is a gap that we see in our legal protections for workers, I think it is our responsibility as elected representatives to protect our residents and our workers in our city.”
Angelina Hicks is the Voice of OC Collegiate News Service Editor. Contact her at ahicks@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @angelinahicks13.
