SACRAMENTO – A bill by California State Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego) to protect grocery workers from being fired because of changes in store ownership was signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown today in the wake of the news that several Haggen stores will soon undergo another change of ownership since being acquired in the Safeway-Albertson’s merger less than a year ago.
Assembly Bill 359 protects grocery employees working in stores of at least 15,000 square feet from being fired during a 90-day transition period if the grocery store is undergoing a change of ownership. Following the transition period, the new employer must provide a written performance evaluation and consider an offer of continued employment following a satisfactory evaluation. Employers would retain the right to terminate an employee for cause at any time during and following the transition period.
AB 359 is the first statewide law in the nation to require grocery stores to retain employees after a change in ownership.
“Wall Street mergers and acquisitions that make big money for corporations and private equity firms should not jeopardize jobs of the grocery workers who live and work in our communities,” said Gonzalez. “This is a common sense opportunity to save people’s jobs and make sure the most experienced, best prepared workers stay on the job during a complicated transition period.”
Brown’s approval of AB 359 comes just days after Haggen Inc. announced it will be putting up 27 stores – 16 in California, including 3 locations in Assemblywoman Gonzalez’s district in southern San Diego County – for sale after the company acquired the stores as part of last year’s $9 billion giant grocery merger. The news put thousands of middle-class grocery jobs – many of those in San Diego County – in jeopardy.
Gov. Brown’s approval of the new law was hailed by worker advocates as a victory for protecting middle class jobs.
“The grocery industry is changing at a fast and furious pace and that can create a lot of uncertainty for the employees that have made these stores so profitable,” said Mickey Kasparian, president for the San Diego-based United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 135. “It’s important that workers have a fair chance to keep their jobs and we are ecstatic that Assemblywoman Gonzalez and Governor Brown found common ground in protecting these workers and their families by AB 359 into law today.”
California currently boasts an estimated 383,900 employees of large grocery stores whose jobs could be protected by AB359 during large grocery mergers or sales. The cities of San Francisco, Santa Monica, Alameda, Gardena and Los Angeles have adopted have local ordinances containing similar protections to retain workers. While California would be the first state in the nation to pass a statewide grocery worker retention law, AB 359 would not be the first worker retention bill of its kind in California, as janitorial maintenance employees are currently protected during a change of contractor at a worksite under the Displaced Janitor Opportunity Act (SB 20, 2001).
