Some 70,000 grocery and retail workers in LA will see better working conditions
The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday, Nov. 29, approved better working conditions for 70,000 grocery and retail workers after backing it preliminarily a week ago. The ordinance requires retail employers in Los Angeles to provide work schedules to employees at least 14 days in advance, and provide at least 10 hours rest between their shifts.
The Los Angeles ‘Fair Work Week’ ordinance, proposed by Councilman Curren Price in 2019, seeks to soften the unpredictability of retail employee schedules. It went through discussions and changes for three years.
Price said the ordinance will impact an estimated 70,000 workers at retailers in Los Angeles. The ordinance, which will take effect next April, applies to all retail businesses with 300 or more employees — globally.
“We must recognize the gaps and wide range of concerns faced by our workers, and we must put their needs over corporate profits,” Price said last week. “This is the least we can do to give them our sincere appreciation and thanks for the work that they do.”
A UCLA study found that 80% of the 140,000 L.A. residents working in the retail sector have “unpredictable, last-minute and fluctuating work weeks over which they have no control,” and over three-quarters get less than a week’s notice of changes to their work schedules.
Council President Paul Krekorian last week called the ordinance a “catalytic change in the way the retail industry is going to be operating in our city,” and Councilman Paul Koretz called its approval “one of the proudest moments of the LA City Council.”
In other actions at Los Angeles City Council:
— The council approved $5.1 million for transportation projects on the Westside despite a request from Councilmember-elect Traci Park to delay a recent funding request from outgoing 11th District Councilman Mike Bonin until she takes office in about two weeks. Roughly half of the funding will go to the Lincoln Boulevard Multimodal Bridge Improvement Project. Another $1.6 million will be spent to build the Rose Avenue Pathway and Protected Bike Lane Project.
Bonin filed the $5.1 million motion last week. In a letter to the council, Park — who defeated Bonin’s ally Erin Darling in the Nov. 8 runoff — asked the council to delay action on the item until after Park takes office on Dec. 12. Park cited lack of community engagement regarding the Lincoln Boulevard project and said the item should be delayed until outreach and funding analysis are done. Park called the funding proposals a “last-minute rush job” with a “massive price tag attached to them.”
— The council approved a pay raise for hundreds of workers at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. Ten bargaining units under the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 18, will receive a four-year agreement that lasts through 2026. Workers’ salary will increase by at least 2.5% each year and as much as 10% each year, depending on inflation. The workers, dozens of whom showed up at Tuesday’s council meeting, will also receive a 3% bonus this year as a one-time inflation offset.