Shame on Kroger - Keep Long Beach Grocery Worker Jobs
Rodney McMullen, CEO of Kroger
In direct retaliation for the City of Long Beach passing a $4 per hour temporary Hazard Pay ordinance, Kroger decided to permanently shut down two stores in Long Beach.
Sign our petition to tell Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen that it is unacceptable to eliminate jobs for predominantly Black and brown workers in Long Beach during a pandemic.
This move is especially shameful given it happened at the start of Black History Month. Kroger more than doubled their profits in 2020, even announcing a $1 billion stock buyback program buyback program. Paying Long Beach workers hazard pay—per the policy they claim will cause irreparable harm—would only cost Kroger approximately $550,000.
On the same day Kroger closed two stores in Long Beach, they donated $3 million in the name of racial equity. Shame on Kroger for engaging in performative activism at the expense of Black and Brown workers. Kroger cannot claim to care about eliminating food deserts, as their charitable giving to Everytable or LISC would indicate, while creating new food deserts in predominantly Black and Brown Long Beach communities.
Let's hold Kroger accountable!
Sponsored by
To:
Rodney McMullen, CEO of Kroger
From:
[Your Name]
Kroger should be ashamed of itself for putting profit over people. The cost to provide Hazard Pay for grocery workers in the Long Beach stores that you are closing is a drop in the bucket when compared to the record profits made in 2020 ($2 billion).
We demand that you keep the Long Beach stores open, and protect these workers' jobs and livelihoods.
These workers have risked their lives and families to help feed their local community during this pandemic. And instead of paying their well earned extra $4 an hour for 120 days, your company prioritizes stock buybacks and performative activism - donating money in the name of racial equity while acting so blatantly against it.
Keep the stores open.