Shame on Kroger! Protect Grocery Workers and Our Communities

Rodney McMullen, CEO of Kroger

In response to a near-unanimous vote by the Los Angeles City Council requiring large grocery and drug chains to offer their frontline essential workers an additional $5 per hour for the next 120 days, Kroger retaliated by announcing it would permanently close three stores in Los Angeles, eliminating the jobs of more than 250 workers. These closures are a bullying tactic and meant to intimidate workers, communities, and electeds from protecting frontline workers during a pandemic.

The store locations are:

  • Food 4 Less at 5420 W Sunset Blvd
  • Ralph's Grocery at 3300 W Slauson Ave
  • Ralph's Grocery at 9616 W Pico Blvd

Sign our petition to tell Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen that it is unacceptable to eliminate jobs for predominantly Black and Brown workers in L.A. during a pandemic.  

Kroger made more than $2.6 billion in profits last year alone, more than double of what it made before the pandemic. Kroger even announced $1.3 billion in stock buybacks and is situated as the 23rd largest corporation in the nation according to the Forbes 500 list.

When workers and communities raise their standards, Kroger lowers theirs. Kroger is permanently shutting down stores and placing the blame on temporary hazard pay ordinances. Workers deserve hazard pay as COVID, variants of the virus, and inequitable distribution of vaccines means that frontline grocery workers risk their health everyday to keep communities fed. Shame on Kroger for the harm it is inflicting on 250 workers, their families, and creating food insecurity in communities who relied on these stores for access to food and critical resources.

Let's hold Kroger accountable.

Petition 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 three Los Angeles stores that you are closing is a drop in the bucket when compared to the $2 billion in profits Kroger made in 2020.

We demand that Kroger do the following:
- Keep neighborhood stores open
- Don't layoff workers
- Don't close stores during the pandemic
- Stop bullying the workers and community
- Stop lowering standards~ all other impacted grocery companies are abiding by hazard pay.

Grocery workers have risked their lives to help feed their local community during this pandemic. And instead of paying their well earned extra $5 an hour for 120 days, your company prioritizes stock buybacks and performative activism by donating money in the name of racial equity and food security while acting so blatantly against it.

Keep the stores open.