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March 8, 2021 <br />PAGE 2 <br />1 <br />rM <br />It <br />c9a <br />Specific to ordinance language, there are numerous policy and legal issues which unnecessarily single out the grocery <br />industry and create significant burdens. The ordinance fails to recognize the current efforts grocers are making to support <br />their employees and requires grocers add significant costs on to existing employee benefit programs. <br />Furthermore, passing this ordinance improperly inserts the city into employee -employer contractual relationships. The <br />ordinance also ignores other essential workers, including city employees, that have similar interaction with the public. <br />Taken in whole, this ordinance is clearly intended to impact only specific stores within a single industry and fails to <br />recognize the contributions of all essential workers. Based on language specifics, this ordinance misses a genuine effort to <br />promote the health, safety and welfare of the public. <br />Emergency passage of the ordinance also ignores any reasonable effort for compliance by impacted stores, as several <br />grocery stores will be operating at the time of passage. By implementing the ordinance immediately there is literally no <br />time to communicate to employees, post notices, adjust payroll processes, and other necessary steps as required by <br />California law. Coupled with the varied enforcement mechanisms and significant remedies outlined, the passage of this <br />ordinance would put stores into immediate jeopardy. This scenario is yet another negative consequence resulting from <br />the lack of outreach to grocers and the grocery industry to understand real world impacts. <br />Grocery workers have demonstrated exemplary effort to keep grocery stores open for Redwood City. This why the <br />grocery industry has provided significant safety measures and historic levels of benefits that include additional pay and <br />bonuses. It is also why vaccinating grocery workers has been our first priority. Unfortunately, this ordinance is a significant <br />overreach of policy and jurisdictional control. This will result in negative consequences for workers and consumers that <br />will only be compounded by the pandemic. <br />We respectfully implore the Council to not move forward with the grocery worker pay ordinance at this time. We <br />encourage you to recognize and understand the impacts of this ordinance on workers and the community by accepting <br />our invitation to work cooperatively with Redwood City grocers. If Council must bring the ordinance forward for a vote at <br />this time we ask you to oppose its passage. CGA is submitting additional information from our legal counsel for your <br />consideration. <br />Thank you for your consideration and we look forward to being able to combat the pandemic in partnership with the City <br />of Redwood City. <br />Sincerely, <br />Timothy James <br />California Grocers As i ion <br />CC: Members, Redwood City City Council <br />City Clerk, City of Redwood City <br />CALIFORNIA GROCERS ASSOCIATION 1 1005 12th Street, Suite 200, Sacramento, CA 95814 <br />P: (916) 448-3545 1 F: (916) 448-2793 1 www.cagrocers.com <br />