Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Mayor, Council Appear Split on Hazard Pay for Local Grocery Workers
David Website Replacement
By David Taub, Senior Reporter
Published 4 years ago on
March 4, 2021

Share

Luis Chavez wants to make sure businesses are treating their workers fairly. He wants to start by mandating hazard pay for grocery workers.

Chavez’s plan is to require larger grocery stores to pay their workers an extra $3 an hour. They can’t Zoom to work, and they have limited access to personal protection equipment, he said.

The Fresno City Council debated Chavez’s plan at Thursday’s meeting.

The discussion also centered on the responsibility of employers who have received pandemic help from the government.

“For those folks that took government money, PPP loans — that have monopolies staying open that did very well — there really, to me, is no reason for their employees to get sick and not have that ability to take care of their families,” Chavez said.

Most of his Fresno City Council colleagues agreed. But, Mayor Jerry Dyer wasn’t convinced.

The item was set for discussion only on Thursday with a vote set for a future council meeting. Chavez’ ordinance is labeled as an emergency, which would require five votes to pass — the same number needed to override a mayoral veto.

Dyer Against a Mandate

“I don’t believe that companies should make millions of dollars off the backs of hard working people. And I do believe good companies engage in some form of profit sharing and bonuses.”Mayor Jerry Dyer

Dyer expressed doubt that mandating hazard pay was the right move for a municipal government.

He said placing unfunded mandates on a private business “cross the line.”

“My biggest concern is that we do end up having businesses close in our community,” Dyer said in the council’s meeting by Zoom. “I want to make sure that whatever we do doesn’t become a pas- through where food prices increase.”

Instead, Dyer said he would support a resolution encouraging a profit-sharing arrangement.

“I don’t believe that companies should make millions of dollars off the backs of hard working people. And I do believe good companies engage in some form of profit sharing and bonuses,” Dyer said.

Council Generally Supports

“We don’t mind when we’re sitting here in our throne at City Hall mandating the private sector come up with (hazard pay) because they’re all rich people and have profits. It’s a slippery slope.”Councilman Garry Bredefeld

Five other councilmembers indicated support in some fashion.

“These people that we call heroes with our words, but not with our actions. And at the end of the day, we have to remember that corporations are not people. People are people. And we cannot lose sight of that,” Councilman Tyler Maxwell said.

Councilmembers Nelson Esparza, Esmeralda Soria, Miguel Arias and Mike Karbassi also made comments in support of the ordinance.

Garry Bredefeld, the councilman representing northeast Fresno, provided an argument in opposition.

He called the ordinance arbitrary, saying all workers are essential. He said there is a likelihood that the prices will increase and be passed to consumers.

“We don’t mind when we’re sitting here in our throne at City Hall mandating the private sector come up with (hazard pay) because they’re all rich people and have profits. It’s a slippery slope. It’s one we shouldn’t be going down,” Bredefeld said.

Arias countered that the city isn’t arbitrary when it provides benefits for Amazon to build a facility, but not other companies.

“Is that arbitrary (or) discriminatory because we didn’t give it to a brick and mortar company like Target or Grocery Outlet? Should we not have done that because we didn’t give it or make it available to all businesses? No,” Arias said.

Expanding Coverage to Other Workers?

Soria broached the idea of expanding mandated hazard pay to other groups, such as factory workers. She specified Foster Farms and Amazon.

According to the city’s emergency orders, workers at least 20 different industries are considered essential employees.

Karbassi wanted the council to “stay focused.”

“When we start wanting to target people because they’re profitable. I think that’s pretty obtrusive,” Karbassi said. “We want to make sure we don’t want to have a death by a thousand cuts on this conversation.”

He hoped that the city could provide its employees with hazard pay.

Dyer said bonuses for city workers is a possibility.

“We can compensate our employees one time — the essential workers, the people who have been out there being exposed to COVID and have exposed their family to COVID,” Dyer said.

The money, he said, could come from the federal American Rescue Plan, currently being debated in Congress.

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

What to Know About Pam Bondi, Trump’s New Pick for Attorney General

DON'T MISS

North Korean Leader Says Past Diplomacy Only Confirmed US Hostility

DON'T MISS

Democrats Strike Deal to Get More Biden Judges Confirmed Before Congress Adjourns

DON'T MISS

Newsom Gaslights on Potential Gas Price Hikes in Fresno Visit

DON'T MISS

Automakers to Trump: Please Require Us to Sell Electric Vehicles

DON'T MISS

President Biden Welcomes 2024 NBA Champion Boston Celtics to White House

DON'T MISS

Ohtani Makes History With 3rd MVP, Judge Claims 2nd AL Honor

DON'T MISS

Trump Chooses Pam Bondi for Attorney General Pick After Gaetz Withdraws

DON'T MISS

Average Rate on a 30-Year Mortgage in the US Rises to Highest Level Since July

DON'T MISS

Cutting in Line? American Airlines’ New Boarding Tech Might Stop You at Now Over 100 Airports

UP NEXT

Is Fresno Mobile Home Park Controversy Over? Tenants Applaud Federal Judge’s Ruling

UP NEXT

What Will Happen to CNBC and MSNBC When They No Longer Have a Corporate Connection to NBC News?

UP NEXT

Conservative Professors and Students Are Beating CA Community Colleges in Court

UP NEXT

Former Bitwise Employees Settle for $20 Million: Fresno Attorney

UP NEXT

Fresno County Sent Out Wrong Ballots. Will Errors Affect Close Races?

UP NEXT

Fresno Officials, Local Groups Prepare for Trump’s Promised Mass Deportations

UP NEXT

Volunteers Came Back to Nonprofits in 2023, After the Pandemic Tanked Participation

UP NEXT

New Study: Proposed Trump Tariffs Could Cost US Consumers $78 Billion a Year

UP NEXT

Riders Stuck in Midair for Over 2 Hours on Knott’s Berry Farm Ride

UP NEXT

Fresno Based Nonprofit, Mell’s Mutts, Gives Dogs a Second Chance at Life

David Taub,
Senior Reporter
Curiosity drives David Taub. The award-winning journalist might be shy, but feels mighty with a recorder in his hand. He doesn't see it his job to "hold public officials accountable," but does see it to provide readers (and voters) the information needed to make intelligent choices. Taub has been honored with several writing awards from the California News Publishers Association. He's just happy to have his stories read. Joining GV Wire in 2016, Taub covers politics, government and elections, mainly in the Fresno/Clovis area. He also writes columns about local eateries (Appetite for Fresno), pro wrestling (Off the Bottom Rope), and media (Media Man). Prior to joining the online news source, Taub worked as a radio producer for KMJ and PowerTalk 96.7 in Fresno. He also worked as an assignment editor for KCOY-TV in Santa Maria, California, and KSEE-TV in Fresno. He has also worked behind the scenes for several sports broadcasts, including the NCAA basketball tournament, and the Super Bowl. When not spending time with his family, Taub loves to officially score Fresno Grizzlies games. Growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area, Taub is a die-hard Giants and 49ers fan. He graduated from the University of Michigan with dual degrees in communications and political science. Go Blue! You can contact David at 559-492-4037 or at Send an Email

Newsom Gaslights on Potential Gas Price Hikes in Fresno Visit

9 hours ago

Automakers to Trump: Please Require Us to Sell Electric Vehicles

9 hours ago

President Biden Welcomes 2024 NBA Champion Boston Celtics to White House

10 hours ago

Ohtani Makes History With 3rd MVP, Judge Claims 2nd AL Honor

10 hours ago

Trump Chooses Pam Bondi for Attorney General Pick After Gaetz Withdraws

10 hours ago

Average Rate on a 30-Year Mortgage in the US Rises to Highest Level Since July

11 hours ago

Cutting in Line? American Airlines’ New Boarding Tech Might Stop You at Now Over 100 Airports

11 hours ago

MLB Will Test Robot Umpires at 13 Spring Training Ballparks Hosting 19 Teams

11 hours ago

Death Toll in Gaza From Israel-Hamas War Passes 44,000, Palestinian Officials Say

12 hours ago

Jussie Smollett’s Conviction in 2019 Attack on Himself Is Overturned

12 hours ago

What to Know About Pam Bondi, Trump’s New Pick for Attorney General

NEW YORK — Pam Bondi, the former Florida attorney general, was chosen Thursday by Donald Trump to serve as U.S. attorney general hours after...

7 hours ago

7 hours ago

What to Know About Pam Bondi, Trump’s New Pick for Attorney General

8 hours ago

North Korean Leader Says Past Diplomacy Only Confirmed US Hostility

8 hours ago

Democrats Strike Deal to Get More Biden Judges Confirmed Before Congress Adjourns

9 hours ago

Newsom Gaslights on Potential Gas Price Hikes in Fresno Visit

President Joe Biden with Mary Barra, the chief executive of General Motors, at the Detroit Auto Show, Sept. 14, 2022. President-elect Donald Trump has promised to erase the Biden administration’s tailpipe rules designed to get carmakers to produce electric vehicles, but most U.S. automakers want to keep them. (Doug Mills/The New York Times)
9 hours ago

Automakers to Trump: Please Require Us to Sell Electric Vehicles

10 hours ago

President Biden Welcomes 2024 NBA Champion Boston Celtics to White House

10 hours ago

Ohtani Makes History With 3rd MVP, Judge Claims 2nd AL Honor

Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, speaks before Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump arrives to speak at a campaign rally at First Horizon Coliseum, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024, in Greensboro, NC. (AP/Alex Brandon)
10 hours ago

Trump Chooses Pam Bondi for Attorney General Pick After Gaetz Withdraws

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend